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EUROPEAN   HISTORY 

AN  OUTLINE  OF  ITS  DEVELOPMENT 


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EUROPEAN   HISTORY 


AN    OUTLINE    OF    ITS 
DEVELOPMENT 


BY 

GEORGE   BURTON   ADAMS 

PROFESSOR    OF    HISTORY    IN    YALE    UNIVERSITY 


WITH  MAPS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS 


THE    MACMILLAN    COMPANY 

LONDON:  MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  Ltd. 
1899 

All  rights  reserved 


Copyright,  1899, 
Bv  THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY. 


HENRY  MOISC  BTEPHCNS 


/uAJL±tA**~*    ^(0"]°!^ 


XortoootJ  i^rtaa 

J.  S.  Cmhing  &  Co.  -  Berwick  fc  Smith 

Norwood  Matt.  U.  S.  A. 


PREFACE 

It  is  my  hope  that  this  book,  while  it  may  be  used  in  any 
way,  will  be  found  of  especial  value  by  the  teacher  who  has 
escaped  from  the  bondage  of  set  text-book  recitations,  as 
fortunately  most  teachers  of  history  have  now  done. 

In  the  preparation  of  the  bibliographies  and  references  I 
have  had  in  mind  both  the  needs  of  the  teacher  and  of  the 
pupil.  Nothing  adds  so  much  to  the  interest  of  work  in 
history  as  a  more  extensive  knowledge  of  the  subject  on  the 
teacher's  part  than  the  text-book  gives,  and  an  ability  to  fill 
it  out  and  throw  light  upon  it  from  various  sources.  The 
bibliographies  give  the  names  of  many  books  not  specifically 
referred  to  elsewhere.  These  are  especially  for  the  use  of 
the  teacher,  and  the  intention  has  been  to  mention  in  each 
case  the  two  or  three  best  books.  In  the  construction  of 
the  text  also,  while  it  has  been  my  purpose  to  state  as 
clearly  as  possible  all  the  important  facts,  I  have  endeavored 
to  make  a  text  which  would  readily  serve  as  the  foundation 
for  considerable  expansion  by  both  teacher  and  pupils.  It 
will  be  noticed,  possibly,  that  the  stock  historical  anecdotes 
are  lacking.  These,  if  used  at  all,  will  have  much  more 
force  and  point  coming  from  the  teacher  than  if  they  stand 
in  the  text  to  be  read  and  reread  and  repeated  to  the  weari- 
ness of  the  bright  pupil. 

The  specific  references,  while  they  may  be  of  use  to  the 
teacher  himself,  are  especially  intended  to  be  used  with  due 
judgment  in  the  assignment  of  outside  reading  to  the  pupil 
and  as  the  basis  of  reports  to  the  class.     At  the  close  of  each 


1  OQ1  O 


vi  Preface 

chapter  two  or  three  topics  of  especially  assigned  readings 
are  given,  but  these  are  intended  to  serve  as  specimens 
rather  than  to  furnish  a  complete  list.  The  teacher  can 
construct  as  many  others  as  desired  on  the  basis  of  the 
marginal  topics  and  references.  In  the  selection  of  the 
books,  to  which  the  specific  references  are  made,  I  have 
been  governed  by  the  readiness  with  which  the  books  can 
be  procured.  If  a  list  of  all  those  to  which  most  frequent 
reference  is  made  were  drawn  up,  it  would  not  exceed  the 
limits  of  a  good  school  library  of  European  history.  I 
believe  that  all  the  easily  accessible  sources  in  English  have 
been  referred  to  in  most  cases  by  specific  references,  and 
I  have  supplemented  these  by  reference  to  two  or  three  col- 
lections of  sources  in  French  and  German  which  are  readily 
obtainable  and  inexpensive. 

In  the  preparation  of  the  text  I  have  endeavored  to  give 
especial  emphasis  to  the  different  periods  of  history,  and  at 
the  same  time  to  make  clear  the  continuous  movement.  If 
any  fairly  good  conception  can  be  gained  from  the  study  of 
history  of  the  steady  march  of  humanity  up  to  its  present 
level,  one  of  its  richest  and  most  fruitful  results  has  been 
secured,  and  it  is  a  wish  of  mine,  though  one  perhaps  not 
easily  realized,  that  the  teacher  should  be  able  to  make  his 
class  see  in  each  lesson,  or  at  least  in  each  of  the  minor 
epochs  of  history,  how  the  movement  advances  a  stage  in 
the  given  bit  of  time.  I  hope  that  the  summaries  prefixed 
to  the  different  parts  may  be  of  service  in  this  direction. 
It  will  be  noticed  also  that  the  traditional  divisions  of  gen- 
eral history  have  not  been  exactly  followed,  and  that  in  a 
number  of  cases  new  names  have  been  given  to  the  divisions 
made.  These  names  have  been  selected  with  a  view  to 
bringing  out  prominently  the  unity  and  continuous  advance 
of  history.  The  traditional  divisions  are,  however,  made 
clear  enough  in  the  text  so  that  any  one  who  prefers  can 
make  use  of  them. 


Preface  vii 

The  book  can  readily  be  made  the  basis  of  a  two-years 
course  of  study  by  a  use  of  the  references  and  assigned 
readings.  If  this  is  desired,  I  should  advise  a  division  at 
the  end  of  Part  IV,  as  the  most  logical  and  satisfactory, 
although  it  does  not  divide  the  text  quite  evenly.  I  hope 
the  book  may  also  be  found  to  serve  a  good  purpose  in 
colleges  as  the  "backbone  book"  of  a  wider  course  of 
study  or  as  a  book  of  review  .on  the  completion  of  such  a 
course. 

I  have  received  suggestions  of  value  in  the  preparation 
of  the  book  from  a  number  of  correspondents,  but  I  am 
under  especial  obligation  for  such  suggestions  to  Professors 
Lucy  M.  Salmon  of  Vassar  College  and  Fred  Morrow  Fling 
of  the  University  of  Nebraska. 

It  is  impossible  that  in  a  book  of  this  kind  errors  both 
of  the  pen  and  of  the  press,  and  even  graver  ones,  should 
not  have  escaped  attention.  I  shall  be  very  grateful  to 
those  who  will  call  my  attention  to  any  of  these  which  they 
may  notice. 

GEORGE  BURTON  ADAMS. 

December  29,  1898. 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

A  Brief  List  of  Books  of  Reference  of  Value  to  the 

Teacher xxvii 


PART   I 

PRIMITIVE  EUROPE  AND  THE  ORIENT 

Books  for  Reference  and  Further  Reading I 

I.  The  Earliest  History i 

The  Field  of  History  —  The  Prehistoric  Age  —  Succes- 
sion of  Historic  Races  of  Men. 

II.  The  Oriental  Nations 7 

Egypt  —  Egyptian  Civilization  —  Assyria  and  Babylonia 
— The  Hebrews  —  The  Phoenicians  —  The  Persian  Empire. 

PART  II 

THE  GREEK  PERIOD 

Books  for  Reference — Summary 17 

I.  The  Early  History 19 

Primitive  Greek  History  —  The  Legendary  Period  — 
The  Homeric  Age  —  The  Spartans  —  A  Military  Com- 
munism —  A  Ruling  Minority  —  Athens  —  The  Great  Re- 
formers—  Two  Typical  Greek  Constitutions. 

II.  The  Struggle  of  Greece  with  Persia  and  its  Results      29 
The  Beginning  of  the  Persian  Wars  —  The  First  and 
Second  Invasions  —  Xerxes'  Invasion  —  Greek  Leadership 
passes  to  Athens  —  Rise  of  the  Athenian  Empire  —  The 
Age  of  Pericles. 


:  Contents 

PAGE 

III.  The  Peloponnesian  War  and  its  Results.        .        .      34 

The  Beginning  of  the  War  —  The  Sicilian  Expedition  — 
The  Last  Period  of  the  War,  413-404  B.C.  — Fall  of  Athens 
—  Supremacy  of  Sparta  —  The  Invasion  of  Persia  by  Cyrus 
the  Younger  —  A  New  Persian  War — The  Decline  of 
Sparta. 

IV.  The   Rise   of    Macedonia   and    the   Conquests    of 

Alexander 42 

Philip's  First  Steps  —  The  Sacred  Wars  —  The  Conquest 
of  Greece  —  The  Conquest  of  Asia  —  The  Fate  of  Alexan- 
der's Empire  —  Its  Influence  on  Civilization  —  The  Greek 
World  between  the  Age  of  Alexander  and  the  Roman 
Conquest  —  The  Period  Intellectually  —  Condition  of  the 
Greek  World  at  the  Roman  Conquest. 


PART   III 

THE   RISE  OF  THE   ROMANS 

Books  for  Reference — Summary 53 

I.  Beginnings  and  Constitutional  Changes  ...      56 

The  Relation  of  the  Romans  to  the  Greeks  in  History 

— The  Geography  and  Peoples  of  Italy  —  The  Founding 

of  Rome — The  Period  of  the  Kings  —  Early  Changes  in 

the  Constitution — The  Early  Constitution  of  the  Republic 

—  Rome  begins  her  Conquests  —  Struggle  of  the  Plebeians 
for  Rights  —  Debtors  demand  Less  Severe  Laws  —  Conflict 
for  Equality  in  holding  Office. 

II.  The  Struggle  for  Empire 66 

The  First  Samnite  and  Latin  Wars  — War  with  the 
Greeks  —  The  Roman  Colonial  System  —  Rome  and  Car- 
thage, Rivals  for  Empire  — The  Importance  of  the  Struggle 

—  The  First  Punic  War  —  Hannibal's  Invasion  of  Italy  — 
Rome's  Fortunes  at  their  Lowest  —  The  War  carried  into 
Africa  —  Effect  of  the  War  upon  Rome. 


Contents  xi 

PAGE 

III.  The  Empire  completed.    Its  Effect  on  Rome  .        .      79 

Ten  Years  of  Rapid  Expansion  —  The  Close  of  Greek 
History  —  Abuses  in  Rome's  Provincial  Government  — 
The  Abuses  affect  Rome  herself — Tiberius  Gracchus  — 
Caius  Gracchus. 

IV.  The  Fall  of  the  Republic 86 

No  Patriotic  Leadership  in  Rome  —  Jugurtha  measures 
Rome's  Corruption  —  The  First  German  Invasion — Causes 
and  Results  of  the  Social  War  —  The  First  Step  towards  a 
New  Nation  —  The  Army  becomes  a  Political  Power  — 
Civil  War  and  the  "  Proscriptions." 

V.  The  Beginning  of  the  Oesars 94 

The  Rise  of  Pompey  —  Caesar  and  Cicero  —  The  First 
Triumvirate  —  New  Civil  War  —  Monarchy  a  Necessity  — 
Caesar's  Measures  —  The  Second  Triumvirate. 


PART   IV 

THE    ROMAN   WORLD-STATE  WITH    ITS    FALL 
AND    ITS  REVIVAL 

Books  for  Reference  —  Summary 101 

I.  The  Empire  and  its  Decline       .        .        .        .        .105 
Character  of  the  Early  Empire  —  Constitutional  Forms 

—  Economic  and  Literary  Character  of  the  Age  —  Provin- 
cial Administration  —  Augustus  and  the  Germans — The 
Period  of  the  Julian  House  —  From  Tiberius  to  Nero  — 
The  Flavian  Dynasty  —  Growth  of  the  Imperial  Constitu- 
tion —  Five  Good  Emperors  —  The  Roman  Law  —  Dis- 
orders  of    the   Third   Century  —  Reforms   of    Diocletian 

—  Constantine  the  Great. 

II.  The  Establishment  of  Christianity   ....     120 

Books  for  Reference  and  Further  Reading 120 

Christianity  at  the  Death  of  Christ  —  Becomes  a  World 
Religion  —  Causes  of  Roman  Persecution  —  Beginnings  of 
Church  Government  —  Christianity  recognized  by  the  State. 


xii  Contents 

PAGE 

III.  The  Last  Age  of  Rome 126 

Character  of  the  Fourth  Century  —  Causes  of  the  Fall  of 
Rome  —  From  Slavery  to  Serfdom  —  Attacks  upon  the 
Frontiers  —  Characteristics  of  the  Germans  —  The  Third 
and  Fourth  Centuries  —  The  Goths  cross  the  Danube  — 
Theodosius  the  Great  —  Invasions  of  Alaric  —  Breaking  of 
the  Rhine  Frontier  —  Rome's  German  Defender  Sacrificed 

—  Invasion  of  the  Huns  —  End  of  the  Western  Empire. 

IV.  The  Founding  of  the  German  States        .        .  137 

A  Second  Period  of  German  Conquests  —  Founder  of 
the  Frankish  Empire  —  Arian  versus  Catholic  —  Clovis 
adopted  the  Catholic  Faith  —  The  Last  Years  of  Clovis' 
Reign  —  The  Ostrogoths  conquer  Italy  —  The  Character 
of  Theodoric's  Rule  —  Growth  of  the  Frankish  Power  — 
Decay  of  the  Merovingian  House  —  The  Roman  Empire 
of  the  East  —  The  Reign  of  Justinian  —  Justinian's  Work 
for  Civilization  —  The  Invasion  of  the  Lombards  —  The 
Saxons  in  Britain  —  The  Saxon  States  —  No  Roman  Ele- 
ments in  the  Saxon  States. 

V.  The  Franks,  the  Arabs,  and  the  Papacy  .        .        .152 

The  Second  Frankish  Dynasty  —  The  First  Carolingians 
— Their  Power  Established — The  Government  Strength- 
ened—  Arabia  before  Mohammed  —  Mohammed  and  his 
Religion  —  A  Religion  of  Conquest  —  Conquests  of  the 
First  Century  —  The  Revolution  of  750  —  Arabian  Science 

—  Coming  in  of  the  Turks  —  The  Frankish  Empire  Restored 

—  Lombards  threaten  the   Pope's   Independence  —  The 
Franks  protect  the  Pope. 

VI.  The  Empire  revived.    Charlemagne  ....    164 

Books  for  Reference  and  Further  Reading 164 

The  Way  prepared  for  a  Great  Empire  —  Conquest  of 
Italy  —  Of  the  Saxons  —  Charlemagne's  Other  Conquests 

—  Revival  of  the  Roman  Empire — The  Missi  Dominici  — 
Charlemagne's  Schools  —  Charlemagne's  Place  in  History. 


Contents  xiii 

PART  V 
THE  FORMATION  OF  THE  NATIONS 

PAGE 

Books  for  Reference — Summary 173 

I.  The  Breaking  up  of  Charlemagne's  Empire  .  .175 
Causes  of  Division —  Economic  Condition  —  Louis  I.  the 
Pious  —  The  Treaty  of  Verdun  —  End  of  the  United  Em- 
pire —  New  Barbarian  Invasions — The  Northmen  —  Rollo 
in  Normandy  and  the  Danes  in  England  —  ^Elfred  the 
Great  —  The  Second  Danish  Invasion. 

II.  The  Feudal  System 185 

The  Conditions  which  gave  rise  to  Feudalism  —  Forms 
of  the  Feudal  System  —  The  Feudal  System  in  France  — 
Feudal  Rights  and  Obligations — The  Serf  Class — Gradual 
Improvement  in  the  Condition  of  the  Serf. 

III.  The  Rise  of  the  New  Nations 192 

General  Conditions  —  The  Beginning  in  Germany  — 
The  Saxon  Kings  —  The  Empire  revived  by  Otto  I. — 
Effect  of  the  Revival — The  Beginning  in  France  —  Kings 
of  Little  Power  —  Norman  Conquest  of  England. 

IV.  Empire  and  Papacy 199 

The  Papacy  during  the  Tenth  Century  —  The  Reforms  of 
Cluny  —  Power  of  the  Empire  under  Henry  III. — The 
Beginning  of  the  Conflict  — Its  Results  —  The  Third  Ger- 
man Dynasty,  the  Hohenstaufen  —  Danger  to  the  Papacy 
—  The  Cities  of  Northern  Italy  — Guelf  and  Ghibelline  — 
The  Papacy  at  its  Highest  Point  of  Power. 

V.  The  Crusades 209 

Books  for  Reference  and  Further  Reading 209 

Place  of  the  Crusades  in  History  —  Motives  of  the  Cru- 
saders —  The  Beginning  of  the  First  Crusade  —  Results  of 
the  First  Crusade  —  The  Second  and  Third  Crusades  — 
The  Later  Crusades. 


xiv  Contents 


PAGE 


VL  The  Changes  which  followed  the  Crusades  .  .217 
The  Direct  Results  of  the  Crusades  — The  Rise  of  the 
Third  Estate  — The  Third  Estate  on  the  Side  of  Strong 
Government  —  Effect  of  the  Increased  Use  of  Money  — 
Fall  of  the  Feudal  System  —  Changes  affecting  the  Serf 
Class  —  Institutions  of  the  Cities. 

VII.  The  Formation  of  the  French  Nation  .  .  .  224 
General  Conditions  in  France — Two  Great  Difficulties 
—  The  Work  of  Louis  VI.  —  France  threatened  by  the 
Angevin  Empire — The  First  Great  Advance — The  Growth 
of  the  King's  Power  —  The  Salic  Law  —  The  First  Period 
of  the  Great  Struggle  with  England  —  The  King  of  Eng- 
land becomes  King  of  France  —  Joan  of  Arc  —  The  Final 
Triumph  of  France  —  Louis  XL  and  Charles  the  Bold. 

VIII.  England 236 

Books  for  Reference  and  Further  Reading 236 

General  Character  of  English  History  —  Period  of  the 
Norman  Kings — Henry  II.  Abroad  and  at  Home  —  Eng- 
land and  Ireland  —  Henry's  Two  Sons  —  The  Greatest  of 
the  Angevin  Kings  —  The  Hundred  Years'  War  —  The 
House  of  Lancaster  —  The  Wars  of  the  Roses. 

IX.  The  Other  States  of  Europe 247 

The  Situation  in  Germany  and  Italy  —  The  Foundation 
of  Austria  —  A  Period  of  Many  Dynasties  —  The  Hussite 
War  — The  Rise  of  Other  German  States  —  Italy  —  Spain 
—The  Rise  of  the  Ottoman  Empire. 


PART  VI 
RENAISSANCE  AND   REFORMATION 

Books  for  Reference  —  Summary 257 

I.  The  Revival  of  Learning 259 

A  Transitional  Epoch  —  The  Meaning  of  Renaissance 
—  The  Place  of  the  Middle  Ages  in  History  —  Learning 
in  the  Middle  Ages  —  Mediaeval  Revivals — The  Age  of 


Contents  Xv 


PAGE 

Scholasticism  —  The  Founding  of  the  Universities  —  The 
Renaissance  comes  P'irst  in  Italy  —  The  Beginning  in  the 
Age  of  Petrarch  —  The  Revival  of  Greek  —  Scientific 
Method  Recovered  —  The  Invention  of  Printing  and  its 
Results  —  The  Renaissance  South  and  North  of  the  Alps 

—  Erasmus. 

II.  The  Immediate  Results  of  the  Revival    .        .        .    273 

Advance  in  Knowledge  —  The  Commercial  Situation  of 
the  Fifteenth  Century  —  Portuguese  Discoveries  —  Colum- 
bus and  his  Discoveries  —  The  Economic  Results  —  The 
First  Great  Step  in  Physical  Science  —  The  End  of  the 
Renaissance  —  Art  and  Literature. 

III.  Revolution  attempted  in  the  Government  of  the 

Church 283 

The  Papacy  at  Avignon  —  The  Great  Schism  —  The 
Demand  for  Reform  —  Wycliffe's  Attempt  at  Reformation 

—  Huss  and  the  Hussites  —  The  Council  of  Constance  — 
The  Council  fails  to  reform  Government  or  Conduct. 


290 


IV.  The  Political  Changes  of  the  Age    .... 

Politics  become  International  —  The  Condition  of 
France  —  The  Creation  of  Spain  —  Results  of  Ferdinand's 
Policy  —  England  —  Germany  —  Italy  —  France  begins 
the  Struggle  —  The  First  Invasion  of  Italy — A  New  French 
Claim  on  Italy — Rapid  Changes  in  the  Italian  Situation 
— The  Dominions  of  Charles  V.  —  The  Imperial  Election 
and  its  Results  —  France  still  seeks  Dominion  in  Italy. 

V.  The  Reformation  of  Luther 303 

Luther's  Theological  Beliefs  —  Indulgences  —  Luther 
posts  his  Theses  —  Luther  gradually  led  to  Open  Rebel- 
lion—  The  Protestant  Position  in  Regard  to  Authority — 
The  Diet  of  Worms  — Events  in  Italy  — The  Treaty  of 
Madrid  —  Enforcement  of  the  Edict  Delayed  —  Peace 
between  France  and  Charles  V.  —  The  "Protestants"  and 
their  Strength— The  Great  Peasant  War  — The  First 
Attack  of  the  Turks  — The  Diet  and  "Confession"  of 
Augsburg  —  The  Emperor's  Plans  again  Postponed. 


xvi  Contents 

PAGE 

VI.  The  Later  Age  of  the  Reformation.        .        .        .317 

The  Reformation  in  the  North  of  Europe  —  Henry  VIII. 
takes  the  Place  of  the  Pope  —  England  becomes  Protestant 

—  Calvinism  —  The  Reformation  in  France  and   Holland 

—  The  Counter  Reformation — The  Society  of  Jesus. 


PART  VII 

THE  STRUGGLE  OF  THE  NATIONS  FOR  SUPREMACY 

AND   EXPANSION 

Summary 325 

I.  The  Age  of  Religious  Wars 328 

The  General  Character  of  the  Age  —  The  Schmalkaldic 
War  —  Abdication  of  Charles  V. — The  Power  and  Char- 
acter of  Philip  II.  —  Philip  and  Mary  of  England  —  Fin- 
land again  Protestant  —  The  Netherlands  under  the 
Hapsburgs  —  The  Beginning  of  Resistance  to  Philip  — 
The  Independence  of  the  United  Netherlands  —  England 
—  Mary  Queen  of  Scots  —  The  Invincible  Armada —  Rise 
of  the  Puritan  Party  —  Opposing  Parties  in  France  — 
Huguenot  Civil  Wars  —  The  First  of  the  Bourbons  — 
Foreign  Plans  of  Henry  IV.  —  Beginning  of  the  Thirty 
Years'  War  —  The  Bohemian  Period  of  the  War — The 
Danish  Period  —  Sweden  and  France  —  Richelieu  cen- 
tralizes France  —  Richelieu  and  the  Thirty  Years'  War  — 
Gustavus  Adolphus  in  Germany — The  Death  of  Gustavus 
and  Wallenstein  —  The  French  Period  of  the  War — The 
Peace  of  Westphalia  —  The  Empire  Destroyed — The  Other 
States  of  Europe  in  the  Peace — The  Sufferings  of  Ger- 
many—  A  New  Era  in  English  History — The  Stuarts  and 
the  Puritans  —  The  Reign  of  James  I.  —  Charles  I.  and 
Parliament  —  Civil  War  Begun  — The  Great  Rebellion 
and  the  Commonwealth. 

II.  France  tries  to  dominate  Europe      ....    365 

The  Hapsburgs  in  1660  —  England  and  Holland — The 
Situation  in  France  —  Character  of  Louis  XIV.  —  Colbert 


Contents  xvii 


PAGE 


and  the  Finances  —  Colbert's  Economic  Measures  —  Pre- 
paring to  annex  Spain  —  Louis  XIV.'s  First  War  —  Louis 
prepares  to  punish  Holland  —  War  against  Holland  —  The 
Period  of  the  "  Reunions  "  —  Revocation  of  the  Edict  of 
Nantes  —  Resources  of  France  Declining  —  Charles  II.  in 
England  —  The  Revolution  of  1688  —  The  War  of  the 
League  of  Augsburg  —  The  Question  of  the  Spanish  Suc- 
cession—  The  Partition  Treaties — France  annexes  Spain 
—  The  War  of  the  Spanish  Succession  —  The  War  goes 
against  Louis  —  The  Peace  of  Utrecht  —  The  Rise  of  Eng- 
land—  The  Beginning  of  Louis  XV.'s  Reign  —  The  End 
of  the  Stuart  Dynasty. 


III.  The  Rise  of  Russia  and  Prussia         ....    386 

The  Position  of  Sweden  —  The  Early  History  of  Russia 

—  Russia  in  the  Seventeenth  Century  —  Peter  the  Great  — 
Russia  against  Sweden  —  The  Fall  of  Charles  XII. — The 
First  Promotion  of  the  Hohenzollern  —  Chief  Steps  in  the 
Making  of  Prussia  —  The  Father  of  Frederick  the  Great 

—  The  Pragmatic  Sanction  of  Charles  VI.  —  The  War  of 
the  Austrian  Succession  (1 740-1 748)  —  Maria  Theresa 
determined  to  punish  Frederick  —  France  abandons  her 
Hereditary  Enmity  —  The  Seven  Years'  War  (1 756-1 763) 

—  Prussia  a  Great  Power  —  Catherine  II.  of  Russia  (1762- 
1796)  —The  Condition  of  Poland  — The  First  Partition  of 
Poland  —  Further  Russian  Advance — The  Rise  of  the 
Eastern  Question  —  Poland  at  last  Destroyed  —  A  Revolu- 
tion in  the  Political  Situation  of  Europe. 


IV.  The  Struggle  for  Colonial  Empire    ....    406 

Books  for  Reference  and  Further  Reading 406 

The  Dawn  of  the  Age  of  World  Politics  —  The  First 
Modern  Colonial  Powers  —  Spain's  World  Power  Threat- 
ened—The Rise  of  the  Dutch  Republic  — The  Beginning 
of  the  English  Empire  — The  First  English  Colonies  — 
The  Thirteen  Colonies  —  Conflict  between  England  and 
Holland  —  The  Power  of  Holland  broken  by  France  — 
The  Beginning  of  Rivalry  with  France  — The  Advantages 


xviii  Contents 


of  the  English  —  Colonial  Wars  —  The  Situation  in  India 

—  King  George's  War  —  The  Interval  of  Nominal  Peace  — 
The  Great  Colonial  War  (i 756-1 763)  —Its  Ultimate  Con- 
sequences—  The  English  Ministry  determines  to  tax  the 
Colonies  —  Compromise  not  Possible — The  War  of  the 
Revolution  —  The  English  Empire  apparently  broken  up 

—  The  Revenge  of  France  more  Apparent  than  Real. 

V.  The  French  Revolution  and  Napoleon     .        .        .    427 

The  Intellectual  Leadership  of  France  —  The  Deists  — 
Voltaire,  Montesquieu,  and  Rousseau  —  Abuses  existing  in 
France  —  Financial  Condition  of  France  —  Attempts  at 
Reform  —  The  Danger  of  calling  together  the  Estates 
General  —  The  Struggle  for  One  Chamber  —  The  Struggle 
with  the  King  —  The  King  completely  Overcome  —  Revo- 
lution Completed  — The  Rise  of  Opposing  Parties  —  Finan- 
cial Difficulties  still  Continue  —  Paper  Money  based  on 
Land  —  The  Republic  Proclaimed  —  The  Beginning  of  a 
Long  War  —  The  First  Step  towards  the  Republic  —  The 
King  Executed  —  War  against  all  Europe  —  The  Reign  of 
Terror,  followed  by  Reorganization  and  Success  —  The 
Work  of  the  Convention  —  Bonaparte  forces  Austria  to 
make  Peace — Revolution  within  the  Revolution — Bona- 
parte in  Egypt  —  A  Strong  Government  —  Bonaparte  turns 
the  Tide  of  War  —  The  Interval  of  Peace  —  The  War 
Renewed  —  Napoleon  stretches  his  Power  too  Far  —  The 
Beginning  of  the  End  —  The  First  Restoration  —  The 
Charter  of  1814  —  The  Congress  of  Vienna  —  The  "Hun- 
dred Days" — The  Second  Restoration  and  the  Congress 
of  Vienna  —  Results  of  the  Revolution  in  Europe  at  Large. 

VI.  Europe  since  1815 452 

Books  for  Reference  and  Further  Reading 452 

The  Nineteenth  Century  an  Age  of  Transition  —  Three 
Lines  of  Great  Political  Changes  —  The  Absolutist  Reac- 
tion—  Revolutionary  Movements  —  The  Monroe  Doctrine 

—  Further  Reaction  and  a  New  Revolution  in  France  — 
The  Consequences  of  the  Revolution  in  France  —  Prepara- 
tion for  Another  Revolution  —  The  Revolution  of  1848  — 
The  Second  Republic  —  Revolution  in  Austria  and  Italy 


Contents  xix 

PAGE 

—  Unsuccessful  Attempts  in  Germany  —  The  Suppression 
of  the  Revolution  —  The  Second  Empire  established  by 
Napoleon  III. — Free  Government  indirectly  Secured  — 
The  Congress  of  Vienna  and  the  Idea  of  Nationality  — 
The  Independence  of  Greece  —  Attempts  following  the 
Two  French  Revolutions  —  The  Spirit  of  Nationality  grow- 
ing Stronger  —  The  Policy  of  Cavour  —  United  Italy  — 
William  I.  and  Bismarck  —  The  Army  made  Ready  —  The 
New  Prussia's  First  War  —  The  Seven  Weeks'  War  —  The 
Results  of  the  War  for  Germany  —  Results  of  the  "vVar  for 
Austria  —  The  Franco-Prussian  War  desired  by  Both  Gov- 
ernments—  The  Pretext  found  for  War  —  The  Course  of 
the  War  —  The  Empire  of  Germany  —  Alsace-Lorraine 
and  Rome  —  The  Third  Republic  in  France  —  Results  of 
the  Period  in  Europe  at  Large  —  The  Eastern  Question  — 
Rise  of  Egypt  under  Mehemet  Ali  —  Preliminaries  of  the 
Crimean  War  —  The  Crimean  War  (1854-1856)  — Russia 
again  attacks  Turkey,  1877 — The  Treaty  of  Berlin,  1878 

—  Later  History  of  the  Balkan  States —  Later  Phases  of  the 
Eastern  Question  —  The  Greek  and  Turkish  War. 


VII.  Anglo-Saxon  Expansion  and  the  Growth  of  World 

Politics 487 

Europe  no  longer  the  Stage  of  History  —  The  Occupa- 
tion of  the  World  —  Australia  the  First  Step  —  Its  Early 
History  —  A  New  English  Nation  —  England  in  the  Wars 
of  the  French  Revolution  —  Napoleon's  Attempt  at  Colo- 
nial Empire — The  Expansion  of  the  United  States  —  The 
English  Empire  in  the  Napoleonic  Period — The  Expan- 
sion of  Canada  —  The  Struggle  for  Self-government  — 
Canada  opens  the  Way  —  A  Great  Change  in  English 
Methods  of  Colonial  Government  —  A  Second  Great  An- 
nexation by  the  United  States  —  Gold  in  California  and 
Australia  —  A  Theory  of  Imperial  Dissolution  —  The 
Imperial  Federation  Movement  —  Expansion  of  English 
Dominion  in  India  —  Russian  Expansion  in  Asia  —  The 
Results  in  Asia  —  The  Occupation  of  Africa  —  The  Eng- 
lish Occupation  of  Egypt  —  The  Insurrection  of  the  Mahdi 
—  The  Anglo-Saxon  Race  in  the  World. 


xx  Contents 


VIII.  The  Growth  of  the  English  and  American  Con- 
stitutions          510 

Books  for  Reference  and  Further  Reading 510 

Importance  of  the  History  of  our  Institutions  —  The 
Absolutism  of  the  First  Norman  Kings  —  Our  First  Con- 
stitutional Document  —  The  Beginning  of  our  Judicial 
Institutions  —  The  Magna  Charta  —  The  Right  of  Civil 
War  —  The  Right  of  Insurrection  Applied  —  The  Idea  of  a 
Limited  Monarchy  —  Origin  of  Representative  Institutions 

—  The  First  Case  of  Town  Representation  —  Progress  in 
the  Thirteenth  Century  —  The  King  recognizes  the  Right 
of  Parliament  to  control  Taxation  —  Parliament  takes  a 
New  Step  —  Another  Most  Important  Right  Gained — A 
Third  Great  Gain  of  Parliament's — The  Exclusive  Right 
to  Legislate  —  Rise  of  the  House  of  Commons  —  Summary 
of  Results  —  First  Dangerous  Attack  on  the  Constitution 

—  The  Deposition  of  Edward  II.,  1327  —  Right  of  Parlia- 
ment to  control  Succession — The  Progress  of  the  Four- 
teenth Century  —  The  Yorkist  Period  —  Peculiar  Character 
of  the  Tudor  Period  —  Constitutional  Change  in  die 
Position  of  the  Church  —  Character  of  the  Stuart  Period 

—  Reasons  for  the  Attitude  of  the  Kings — The  Reli- 
gious Parties  —  Slow  Advance  towards  War  —  The  Second 
Great  Constitutional  Document  —  Period  of  Rule  without 
Parliament  —  Concessions  of  King  Charles  —  The  King 
determines  to  Resist — The  Constitutional  Character  of  the 
Commonwealth — The  Later  Stuarts  —  The  Revolution  of 
1688 — Results  of  the  Revolution  —  Constitutional  Ques- 
tions in  the  Colonies  —  Progress  in  the  Eighteenth  Century 
in  England — The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  — 
Tendency  towards  Democracy — Anglo-Saxon  Institutions 
in  Other  States  —  The  Common  Work  of  England  and 
America. 

IX.  Scientific     and     Economic     Advance     since     the 

Renaissance 544 

Books  for  Reference  and  Further  Reading 544 

The  Close  of  the  Renaissance — The  Great  Age  of 
English    Literature  —  Of  Scientific  Work — The    Law  of 


Contents  Xxi 


PAGB 


Gravitation  —  The  Idea  of  the  Reign  of  Law  —  The  Eng- 
lish Deists  —  Leaders  of  French  Thought  in  England  — 
The  Benevolent  Despots  —  Character  of  Eighteenth  Cen- 
tury Science —  Advances  in  Science — A  New  Science  — 
The  Age  of  Machinery  Begins — Its  Effect  on  Manufactur- 
ing —  On  Labor  —  The  Final  Effect  —  Political  Results  — 
The  Accumulation  of  Wealth  —  Nineteenth  Century  Sci- 
ence—  Advances  in  Pure  Science. 


List  of  Abbreviations  used  in  referring  to  the  Various 

Authorities  Quoted .559 

Each  chapter  is  followed  by  a  list  of  Topics  —  Topics  for  As- 
signed Studies — and  frequently  by  a  list  of  Important  Dates  for 
Review. 


xxii  Contents 


LIST  OF    MAPS  AND  TABLES 

The  World  as  known  to  Eratosthenes  and  Strabo,  from  about 

200  B.C.  to  20  A.D Frontispiece 

PAGE 

Greece  at  the  Beginning  of  the  Peloponnesian  War      .       facing      34 

Empire  of  Alexander  the  Great "48 

Italy  before  the  Roman  Conquest  ....  "56 

Roman  Empire between  iio-m 

Europe  about  525 143 

Charlemagne's  Empire between  168-169 

Europe  about  1200 "         226-227 

The  Crusades 212,  213 

Europe  about  1560 between  334-335 

The  Baltic  Lands  at  the  Beginning  of  the  Eighteenth  Century     .     387 

Europe  about  1740 behveen  392-393 

Central  Europe  about  181 2  showing  Battle-fields  from  1792 

between  446-447 


The  Capetian  Kings  of  France 235 

The  Kings  of  England,  1066-1485 246 

The  Genealogy  of  the  Emperor  Charles  V 302 

The  Kings  of  England,  Tudors,  Stuarts,  and  Hanoverians     .         .  363 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 


Rock-cut  Figures  at  Aba-Simbul  ........  5 

Fragment  of  the  Rosetta  Stone 9 

Nebuchadnezzar 10 

Section  of  the  Black  Obelisk  of  Shalmanezar        .         .         .         .12 

Darius  and  Attendants 14 

Necropolis  of  Darius  near  Persepolis 16 

Altar  on  the  Acropolis,  Pergamos 23 

The  Acropolis  restored,  Athens 25 

Coin  of  Elis,  with  Figure  of  Zeus 28 

Pericles 32 

Greek  Women  decorating  an  Altar       ......  33 

The  Parthenon  as  at  Present 37 

Plato 39 

Pediment  —  Temple  of  Minerva,  /Egina 41 

Aristotle 44 

Theatre  of  Dionysius 47 

Temple  of  Edfu,  Time  of  the  Ptolemies 49 

Mask  of  the  Otricoli  Zeus,  Naples 5° 

An  Old  Roman  School 56 

Roman  Lictors .         .60 

Ruins  of  the  Aqueducts,  Rome 62 

A  Quadriga           .         .         .         .                  .         .         .         «  65 

Roman  Trireme,  with  Boarding  Bridge         .....  71 

Rostra .74 

The  Circus  Maximus,  Rome 75 

Roman  Chariot  —  a  Triumph 77 

A  Gladiatorial  Combat          ,                  82 

A  Ballista,  Time  of  Caesar 84 

xxiii 


xxiv  Illustrations 

FACE 

The  Coliseum 89 

The  Roman  Forum,  restored 91 

Caesar's  Bridge 93 

Julius  Caesar 95 

Cleopatra,  with  her  Cartouche 97 

A  Street  in  Pompeii 105 

Pretorian  Guards 106 

A  Cameo  —  Portraits  of  Claudius,  Agrippina  the  Younger,  Livia, 

and  Tiberius 109 

Arch  of  Trajan 112 

Marcus  Aurelius 114 

Constantine  the  Great 118 

Christian  Sarcophagus,  with  Labarum 123 

German  Bodyguard,  Column  of  Marcus  Aurelius  .        .         .         .128 

German  Settlement,  Time  of  Tacitus 1 30 

German  Weapons 136 

St.  Sophia,  Constantinople 147 

Fragment  from  the  Digest  of  Justinian 151 

The  Kaaba  at  Mecca .  154 

Tomb  of  the  Caliphs  at  Cairo 159 

Charlemagne ,  167 

Signature  of  Charlemagne 1 70 

The  Cathedral  at  Worms 179 

Edinburgh  Castle 187 

Milan  Cathedral 200 

Harbor  of  Palermo       ....                 ....  205 

Papal  Keys 207 

Bird's-eye  View  of  Rhodes 211 

Knight  Templar 215 

Saracenic  Arms 216 

Grand  Canal,  Venice 219 

A  Hanseatic  Ship 222 

Notre  Dame,  Paris 227 

Canterbury  Cathedral ,  230 


Illustrations  xxv 


PAGE 


Tower  of  London         . 241 

The  Great  Seal  of  England 243 

Carving  from  a  Moslem  Screen    .......  253 

St.  John's  College,  Oxford 264 

Dante  Alighieri 266 

Gutenberg's  Press 268 

Armor  of  Columbus 274 

Columbus 276 

Cortes  . 278 

Lorenzo  Magnifico        .........  280 

The  Duomo,  Florence 294 

The  Emperor  Charles  V 299 

Luther 303 

Bridge  and  Castle  of  S.  Angelo,  Rome 309 

Ignatius  Loyola 322 

Cannon  of  the  Sixteenth  Century  ......  331 

Philip  II 332 

William  the  Silent 337 

Queen  Elizabeth 339 

Soldier  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War 345 

Gustavus  Adolphus 348 

Richelieu 350 

Swedish  Leather  Cannon  352 

Holyrood  Palace  ,        t  356 

Charles  I.  of  England  .  359 

Cromwell      ...«...«.,.».  360 

Louis  XIV.  ,  368 

Louis  de  Bourbon,  rhe  Great  Conde     ,.'.*.-..  372 

Colbert 375 

Gobelin  Tapestry,  Time  of  Louis  XIV 379 

A  North  View  of  Gibraltar   ........  382 

Peter  the  Great    .  389 

Gigantic  Grenadier  of  Frederick  William  I.  ....  394 

Stone  Bridge  at  Prague .  396 


xx  vi  Illustrations 

PAGE 

Frederick  the  Great 401 

The  Mosque  at  Delhi 41© 

William  Penn 4" 

Champlain 4*4 

Dupleix 417 

The  Declaration  of  Independence.     Facsimile  (reduced)  of  the 

first  lines  of  Jefferson's  original  draft 423 

George  Washington facing  A22 

Versailles 429 

Marie  Antoinette 430 

Taking  of  the  Bastille 434 

Facsimile  of  an  Assignat  (reduced) 437 

Lazare  Carnot 442 

The  Three  Consuls 444 

Napoleon 445 

Lafayette 456 

Pope  Pius  IX 460 

Count  Cavour 466 

Germania.     Niderwald  Monument 474 

M.  Thiers 477 

Sebastopol 480 

The  Congress  at  Berlin 483 

Bird's-eye  View  of  Melbourne,  Australia 489 

Durban,  Natal 494 

Sutter's  Mill.     Where  gold  was  first  discovered  in  California         .  499 

Khartum 506 

Benjamin  Franklin facing  546 

The  Cotton  Gin 552 


A  BRIEF  LIST  OF  BOOKS  OF  REFERENCE  OF 
VALUE  TO  THE  TEACHER 

In  French.  —  Lavisse  et  Rambaud,  Histoire  Generate  du  IV  Steele 
a  nos  Jours.  12  vols.  (144  francs.)  Probably  the  best  book  of  refer- 
ence and  for  obtaining  more  full  knowledge  than  the  ordinary  text- 
book gives  on  Medieval  and  Modern  history.  Each  epoch  is  treated 
by  a  specialist.  —  Rambaud,  Histoire  de  la  Civilisation  Francaise. 
2  vols.  (Paris;  Colin;  8  francs.)  Deals  chiefly  with  France  from 
the  beginning  to  the  Revolution,  but  is  of  value  for  all  Europe. 

In  German.  —  Leopold  von  Ranke,  Weltgeschichte.  9  Parts.  (158 
marks.)  Mainly  political.  —  G.  Weber,  Lehrbuch  der  Weltgeschichte. 
2  vols.  (18  marks.)  Will  be  found  very  useful  by  the  teacher,  as  it 
takes  up  many  sides  of  history. 

In  English.  —  George  P.  Fisher,  Outlines  of  Universal  History. 
(American  Book  Co.;  #2.40.)  A  very  full  single  volume  history.  Has 
some  of  the  characteristics  of  Weber.  This  book  and  the  same 
author's  History  of  the  Christian  Church  (Scribner's ;  $3.50)  will 
form  a  satisfactory  reference  library  of  the  smallest  size.  —  Arthur 
Hassall,  Editor,  Periods  of  European  History.  8  vols.  By  different 
authors.  (Macmillan  ;  $1.40  to  $1.75.)  A  very  useful  series  covering 
the  whole  field  of  Medieval  and  Modern  history.  —  The  Story  of  the 
Nations  Series  (Putnam's;  $1.50)  and  the  Epochs  of  History  Series 
(Longmans  or  Scribner's  ;  $1.00)  approach  the  character  of  general 
histories  in  monographs.  Volumes  in  each  series  will  be  mentioned 
in  connection  with  the  different  periods.  —  J.  N.  Lamed,  History  for 
Ready  Reference.  5  vols.  (Subscription.  Nichols,  Springfield,  Mass.; 
$25.00.)  A  general  history  on  the  dictionary  plan.  It  is  especially  use- 
ful because  of  the  large  number  of  unusual  names  and  terms  which  are 
explained.  —  The  American  Historical  Review  ($3.00)  and  the  Eng- 
lish Historical  Review  (20  shil.)  are  the  standard  periodicals  in  Eng- 
lish. Teachers  who  can  make  use  of  French  will  probably  find  that 
the  Revue  Historique  (Paris;  Alcan;  33  francs)  will  keep  them  more 
nearly  abreast  of  the  new  work  in  European  history  than  any  other  sin- 
gle periodical.  —  Hassall,  A  Handbook  of  European  History,  476-1871 
(Macmillan;  $2.25),  and  Ploetz,  Epitome  of  Ancient,  Mediceval,  and 
Modern  History  (Houghton;   $3.00),  are  helpful  manuals  of  chronology 


xxviii  List  of  Books  of  Reference 

with  genealogical  and  other  tables.  —  Lorenz,  Genealogisches  Handbwh 
der  Europ'dischen  Staatengeschichte.  (7  marks.)  Very  good  and  full 
tables.  —  George,  Genealogical  Tables.  .(Clarendon;  $3.00.)  The  best 
in  English.  In  atlases,  the  teacher  should  have  at  hand  something  bet- 
ter than  any  English  school  historical  atlas.  —  Droysen,  Historischer 
Hand-atlas  (Leipzig;  25  marks),  and  Schrader,  Atlas  de  Geographic 
Historique  (Paris;  35  francs),  are  both  very  good.  —  The  Oxford  His- 
torical Atlas,  publishing  in  30  parts  (Clarendon  ;  $1.10  each)  is  still 
better,  but  more  expensive. 


PART   I 

PRIMITIVE  EUROPE   AND    THE    ORIENT 

Books  for  Reference  and  Further  Reading 

0.  Schrader,  Prehistoric  Antiquities  of  the  Aryan  People :  A  Manual 
of  Comparative  Philology  and  the  Earliest  Culture.     Translated  by 
F.  B.  Jevons.     (London  ;   Griffin  &  Co.,  Scribner's;  $6.75.) 
C.  F.  Keary,  The  Dawn  of  History.      (Scribner's  ;  #1.25.) 
O.    R.    Mason,  Woman's  Share  in  Primitive   Culture.      (Appleton; 

#1-750 

P.    B.   Du  Chaillu,    The   Viking  Age.     2  vols.     (Scribner's;    $7.50.) 

The  prehistoric  age  of  our  ancestors. 

Maspero,  The  Dawn  of  Civilization.  (Appleton;  $7.50.). —  The 
Struggle  of  the  Nations.  (Appleton  ;  $7.50.)  The  first  treats  of 
the  early  history,  and  the  second  of  the  later  history  of  the  Oriental 
nations.  —  Life  in  Ancient  Egypt  and  Assyria.  (Appleton; 
$1.50.) 

A.  J.  Church,  Stories  of  the  East,  from  Herodotus.  (Dodd,  Mead; 
#1.00.) 


CHAPTER   I 

THE  EARLIEST  HISTORY 


1.   The  Field  of  History.  —  That  portion  of  the  history  of  Thehistoryof 
the  whole  world  in  which  we  are  especially  interested  is  the  the  formation 

,  .  -     ,  .  ....  .  .of  modern 

history  of  those  nations  which   in   successive   stages  have  civiiization. 
created  the  civilization  we  now  enjoy.     If  we  can  see  how 
they  came  into  the  field  of  history  one  after  another,  each 
taking  up  the  work  of  making  our  civilization  where  the 
the  others  had  left  it,  and  can  get  a  clear  idea  of  the  more 


The  Earliest  History 


[§2 


important  work  that  each  one  did,  then  we  have  made  a 
framework  for  the  whole  of  history  which  can  be  filled  up 
with  the  details  as  we  study  afterwards  the  history  of  dif- 
ferent nations.  There  are  other  nations  besides  these  whose 
history  is  interesting,  like  the  ancient  Peruvians  or  the 
Chinese,  but  since  they  have  been  very  much  isolated  from 
the  rest  of  the  world,  a  knowledge  of  their  history  is  not 
necessary  in  order  to  understand  how  our  own  civilization 
came  to  be  what  it  is. 
he  periods  The  divisions  usually  made  of  the  whole  field  of  history 
history.  are  naturai  ones,  formed  either  by  the  coming  in  of  new 
nations  to  take  the  leading  place  in  history,  or  by  so  great 
a  change  in  the  larger  features  of  civilization  that  we  are 
forced  to  see  that  a  new  age  has  begun.  Ancient  Oriental 
history  is  that  of  the  earliest  civilized  nations,  around  the 
eastern  end  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea.  Ancient  history  is 
that  of  the  classic  nations,  Greece  and  Rome.  This  is 
changed  into  medieval  history  by  the  coming  in  of  the 
Germans  to  take  the  place  of  the  Romans  as  the  ruling  race 
in  Europe,  and  the  coming  on  of  modern  history  is  marked 
by  a  great  change  in  all  the  chief  characteristics  of  civiliza- 
tion as  compared  with  medieval  times, 
rimitive  2.   The  Prehistoric  Age.  —  Back  of  the  earliest  of  these 

;in-  periods  lies  another  which  is  called  prehistoric  because  it 

left  no  historical,  that  is  no  written,  records.     It  was  the 
period  during  which  the  races  of  men  were  taking  the  first 
steps  in  civilization,  were  learning  how  to  make  and  use 
tools,  finding  out   better   and   better  means  of  supplying 
themselves  with  food,  clothing,  and  shelter,  and  beginning 
to  respect  one  another's  rights  and  to  unite  together  to 
protect  their  common  interests ;  that  is,  beginning  to  form 
governments  and  law. 
ot  a  period        But  the  term  "  prehistoric  "  refers  rather  to  a  stage  of  civili- 
history  but  zati0n  than  to  a  definite  period  of  time.     Some  nations, 
owth.  favored  by  peculiar  circumstances,  passed  out  of  it  at  a  very 

early  date,  while  others  have  remained  in  it  down  to  the 
present  time.     Thus  the  Egyptians  had  reached  a  very  high 


§3] 


The  Different  Races  of  Men 


civilization  while  the  Greeks  were  still  unable  to  write,  arid 
the  Greeks  in  their  turn  were  highly  civilized  at  a  time 
when  our  German  ancestors  were  still  in  the  prehistoric 
stage. 

Although  there  are  no  written  records  coming  from  this 
period,  many  things  have  been  found  out  in  regard  to  the 
beginnings  of  our  civilization.  These  have  been  discovered 
partly  by  a  study  of  the  implements  which  primitive  men 
buried  with  their  dead,  or  lost  near  their  dwelling-places, 
and  partly  by  a  study  of  modern  savage  tribes,  who  are  still 
in  stages  of  civilization  like  those  through  which  the  earliest 
races  passed.  Another  source  of  knowledge  has  been  the 
study  of  the  words  which  are  found  in  several  related 
languages. 

Putting  together  the  different  things  we  learn  from  these 
various  sources,  we  conclude  that  mankind  in  prehistoric 
times  passed  through  certain  well-marked  stages  which  we 
name,  from  the  kind  of  implements  they  used,  the  ages  of 
rough  stone,  of  polished  stone,  of  copper,  of  bronze,  and 
of  iron  weapons  or  tools.  With  these  went  other  changes, 
from  using  caves  as  dwellings,  to  huts  and  better  constructed 
houses ;  from  clothing  of  the  skins  of  wild  beasts,  to  woven 
cloth ;  from  depending  on  game  and  wild  fruits  for  food,  to 
the  beginning  of  agriculture ;  and  from  living  together  as  a 
mere  herd  or  drove,  to  some  idea  of  the  family  and  the  tribe. 

3.  The  Different  Races  of  Men.  —  It  is  chiefly  by  the 
study  of  language  that  scholars  have  been  led  to  classify  the 
peoples  which  have  had  the  chief  part  in  making  our  civili- 
zation in  three  great  groups  or  families  of  nations."  It  is 
found  that  the  languages  of  many  apparently  distinct  peoples 
contain  a  large  number  of  words  which  have  been  formed 
from  the  same  roots.  This  fact  leads  to  the  belief  that  these 
peoples  are  related  to  one  another  by  descent  from  a  com- 
mon, original  stock.  A  good  example  of  a  root  of  this  kind 
is  found  in  the  English  word  daughter,  Sanskrit  duhitar, 
Zend  dughdhar,  Armenian  dustr,  Greek  Ovydrrjp  (t/iugater), 
and  Gothic  dauhtar. 


Sources  of 
knowledge 
of  prehistoric 
times. 


Successive 


Language 
proves  the 
existence  of 
parent  races. 


4  The  Earliest  History  [§  3 

Such  facts  lead  to  the  conclusion  that  there  was  in  very 
early  times  a  parent  race  from  which  all  these  separate 
nations  are  descended.  For  a  long  period  they  lived 
together  as  a  single  people.  Their  language  contained 
words  expressive  of  the  civilization  which  they  had  reached, 
of  their  manner  of  living,  of  the  institutions  which  they  had 
created,  and  of  the  tools  and  conveniences  which  they  had 
in  use.  As  the  increasing  population  in  the  original  home 
began  to  press  upon  their  primitive  food  supply,  emigration 
began,  and  a  number  of  families,  joined  together  as  a  band 
or  tribe,  went  off  by  themselves  to  find  a  new  home  and 
means  of  support.  They  would  take  with  them  of  course 
the  language  which  they  had,  containing  all  the  words  of  the 
parent  language  at  the  time,  but  as  they  met  with  new 
experiences  and  gradually  made  a  new  civilization  of  their 
own,  they  would  be  constantly  adding  new  words  and  for- 
getting or  changing  the  old  ones,  so  that  in  the  end  each  of 
these  languages  came  to  contain  a  larger  body  of  words  not 
found  in  any  of  the  others  than  it  had  of  the  common  roots. 

By  this  method  the  historical  nations  are  classified  in  three 
great  races  or  families.  The  first  of  these  is  the  Aryan,  or 
better,  the  Indo-European.  Beginning  in  India  and  turning 
to  the  west,  it  occupies  at  present  nearly  all  the  land  of  the 
north  temperate  zone  in  western  Asia,  Europe,  and  America; 
and  also  in  America,  South  Africa,  and  Australia,  it  occupies 
in  the  same  way  nearly  all  the  habitable  land  of  the  soutli 
temperate  zone.  This  race  has  had  a  much  larger  share 
than  the  other  two  together  in  making  the  past  history  of 
mankind,  so  far  at  least  as  it  is  recorded  history.  The  chief 
divisions  of  this  race  are  the  Hindoo,  the  Persian,  the  Ar- 
menian, the  Greek,  the  Roman,  the  Slav,  the  Celt,  and  the 
Teuton,  to  which  last  the  English  belongs.  The  second 
group  is  the  Semitic  race,  which  played  a  more  important 
part  in  the  early  history  of  mankind  than  it  has  since  done 
except  in  one  or  two  periods.  It  embraces  the  Phoenicians, 
the  Hebrews,  and  the  Arabs.  The  third  is  the  Turanian 
group,  of  which  the  chief  representatives  are  the  Turkic  and 


4] 


Sttccession  of  tke  Historic  Races 


Tartar  nations,  which  have  had  so  much  to  do  with  the 
history  of  Asia,  and  which  may  have  a  larger  influence  upon 
the  future  of  the  world  than  they  have  had  upon  its  past. 

4.  The  Succession  of  the  Historic  Races. — The  centre 
of  the  ancient  world  was  the  Mediterranean  Sea.  In  lands 
bordering  on  it,   or  within  easy  reach    of  it,   the    earliest 


Rock-cut  Figures  at  Aba-Simbul 


civilizations  of  recorded  history  were  formed.     These  were  Recorded 

the  Egyptian  and  the  Assyrian  in  the  valleys  of  the  Nile  and  hJstory  be- 

the  Euphrates.     Their  successor  in  dominion  and  civiliza-  Mediterra- 

tion  was  the  great  empire  of  the  Persians,  but  many  valuable  nean  basin, 

additions  were  made  to  the  common  stock  by  some  Oriental  The  odenta 

nations  that  did  not  found  great  empires,  like  the  Phceni-  nations, 
cians  and  the  Hebrews.     From  these  Eastern  nations  the 


The  Earliest  History 


[1 4 


The  Greeks,  line  of  our  history  passed  to  Europe  and  to  the  Greeks, 
who,  borrowing  some  things  from  their  predecessors,  de- 
veloped one  side  of  our  civilization,  the  intellectual,  to  the 
highest   point  which   it  was   destined   to   reach   for   many 

The  Romans,  centuries.  The  Romans  followed  the  Greeks  in  time,  and 
formed  a  great  state  which  brought  together  into  a  common 
union  all  the  lands  of  the  Mediterranean  basin,  but  in  one 
sense  they  were  the  partners  of  the  Greeks,  for  they  filled 
out  a  side  of  our  civilization,  the  political,  to  which  the 
other  race  had   given   little   attention.     The   heirs   of  the 

The  Ger-        ancient  world  were  the  Teutonic  tribes  who  broke  up  the 

man  peoples,  western  half  of  the  Roman  Empire  into  the  modern  European 
nations,  but  in  doing  this  they  kept  up  something  of  the 
union  which  Rome  had  created,  and  so  remained  in  close 
relations  with  one  another.     They  gradually  formed  a  new 

All  mankind,  uniform  civilization  on  the  foundation  of  the  classic,  and  in 
recent  times  this  has  begun  to  be  world  wide  and  to  bring 
into  close  relationship  and  under  common  influences  all  the 
inhabitants  of  the  earth. 


CHAPTER   II 


THE  ORIENTAL  NATIONS 


5.  Egypt.  —  It  was  in  Egypt  that  the  first  civilized  nation 
of  history  was  formed.  This  was  no  doubt  because  the 
favoring  climate  and  the  great  fertility  of  the  Nile  valley, 
renewed  every  year  by  the  inundation  of  the  country,  made 
it  very  easy  to  pass  from  the  barbarous  or  nomadic  stage 
into  a  settled  agricultural  life,  and  this  change  very  soon 
made  necessary  a  strong  government  to  protect  a  peaceful 
laboring  population.  How  early  a  government  of  this  kind 
was  formed  in  Egypt  we  cannot  say  with  certainty,  but  it 
was  several  thousand  years  before  the  Greeks  became  a 
civilized  people. 

The  history  of  Egypt  is  divided  into  dynasties,  or  families 
of  kings,  which  serve  the  purpose  of  a  chronology,  since  we 
have  no  date  for  the  beginning  of  the  history  from  which 
we  can  reckon.  Of  these  dynasties  there  are  about  thirty, 
grouped  into  three  or  four  larger  groups.  The  first  of  these 
is  of  ten  dynasties  of  kings  who  had  their  capital  at  Memphis 
in  Lower  Egypt,  near  the  Mediterranean.  The  capital  under 
the  second  group  was  changed  to  Thebes  in  Upper  Egypt, 
far  from  the  sea,  and  this  group  is  divided  into  two,  the 
first  of  which  is  called  the  Middle  Empire,  and  the  second 
the  New  Empire.  With  the  last  group  the  seat  of  the 
government  returned  to  the  Delta. 

The  earliest  king  of  whom  we  are  told  the  name  is  Menes, 
who  is  said  to  have  founded  Memphis,  and  to  have  united 
Egypt  under  one  rule.  In  the  early  period  the  fourth 
dynasty  is  especially  famous,  for  they  were  the  builders  of 

7 


The  first 
Egyptian 
king. 


8 


The  Oriental  Nations 


[§5 


the  great  pyramids  of  Gizeh,  intended  to  be  the  tombs  of 
the  kings.  The  largest  of  these  was  built  by  King  Cheops, 
or  Kufu.  Not  much  is  known  of  the  later  dynasties  of  this 
group,  and  when  we  begin  to  learn  more  of  the  history 
Thebes  is  the  capital. 

The  period  of  the  highest  civilization  of  ancient  Egypt 
seems  to  have  been  that  of  the  Middle  Empire.  It  was  a 
time  of  peace  when  great  works  of  building  and  of  internal 
improvement  were  undertaken.  A  king  of  the  twelfth 
dynasty,  Amenemhat  III.,  transformed  a  great  lake,  called 
Moeris,  or  "  the  lake,"  into  a  basin  to  receive  the  waters  of 
the  Nile  when  too  high,  and  to  increase  the  inundation 
when  it  was  not  high  enough.  This  period  is  closed  by  the 
invasion  of  the  Hyksos,  or  Shepherd  Kings,  who  ruled 
Egypt  for  about  five  hundred  years.  The  New  Empire  is 
a  period  of  great  military  glory  and  of  conquests  extending 
north  almost  or  quite  to  the  Euphrates,  and  south  into  the 
regions  of  the  upper  Nile  under  the  great  kings  Thothmes  I. 
and  III.  and  Ramses  II.  and  III.  It  was  probably  under 
the  dynasty  of  the  Ramses,  the  nineteenth,  that  the  oppres- 
sion of  the  Hebrews  occurred. 

Under  the  twentieth  dynasty  the  power  of  Egypt  began 
to  decline,  and  the  history  of  the  last  ten  dynasties  is  filled 
with  foreign  invasions,  and  sometimes  the  country  was  ruled 
over  by  Assyrian  or  Persian  kings  who  had  conquered  it. 
About  the  middle  of  the  seventh  century  a  native  king 
restored  the  independence  of  Egypt  and  founded  the  twenty- 
sixth  dynasty.  This  was  Psammetichus  L,  who  made  his 
capital  the  city  of  Sais  near  the  sea,  because  the  support  of 
his  power  was  his  Greek  mercenaries.  This  dynasty  lasted 
until  the  conquest  of  Egypt  by  the  Persians,  and  is  charac- 
terized by  interest  in  commerce  and  by  its  close  connection 
with  the  Greeks.  It  was  through  this  connection  that  the 
Greeks  learned  many  of  the  things  the  Egyptians  had  to  teach 
them,  especially  in  philosophy  and  science,  although  they 
had  in  even  earlier  times  learned  much  from  the  same 
source.     After  the  conquest  of  Egypt  by  the  Persians  it  was 


§  6]  Egyptian  Civilization  9 

never  again  independent.     It  passed  from  the  Persians  to  The  end  of 

Alexander,  and  then  to  the  Romans.     While  it  was  a  part  Egyptian  in- 

of  the  Roman  Empire  in  the  East,  it  was  conquered  by  the  Eters^X^' 

Mohammedan  Arabs,  and  afterwards  by  the  Turks,  who  have  Egyptian 

kept  possession  of  it,  at  least  in  name,  until  the  present  time.  Princess 

6.    Egyptian  Civilization. —The  Egyptians  in  nearly  all  ^T^' 

periods  of  their  history  seem   to  have   been  very  fond  of  tian  records, 
making  written  records,  or 

of  constructing  permanent  ^~*&&* •SllllSfitt'SW 

monuments   of         ^gttf^S^S^^^^k^^^'^i 

Fragment  of  the  Rosetta  Stone 

Bearing  the  inscription  by  which  the  hieroglyphics  were  deciphered 

kind  which  would  preserve  their  memory  to  after  times. 
The  result  of  this  is  that  we  have  a  great  deal  of  informa- 
tion not  only  about  their  history,  but  also  about  their  ideas 
and  their  ways  of  life.  Their  forms  of  writing,  which  they 
had  developed  from  a  primitive  kind  of  picture  writing,  were 
deciphered  many  years  ago  by  a  French  scholar,  who  had 
an  inscription  to  study  which  had  been  engraved  in  three 
forms  of  writing,  one  of  which  was  Greek,  so  that  the  mean- 
ing was  easy  to  determine. 

The   Egyptians   were   a  very  religious   people,  and   the   The  religion 
most  characteristic  features  of  their  civilization,  their  won-   of  Egypt. 
derful  buildings  and  monuments,  their  scientific  knowledge, 
and  their  practice  of  embalming  the  dead,  are  all  connected 
with  their  religion.     They  had  a  great  many  gods.     Almost 


10 


The  Oriental  Nations 


[§7 


every  place  or  operation  of  nature  had  its  divinity,  and  as 
they  believed  in  the  frequent  incarnation  of  the  gods  in  the 
bodies  of  animals,  many  animals  among  them  were  held 
sacred.  They  had  a  very  strong  belief  in  the  immortality 
of  the  soul,  and  in  a  last  judgment  in  which  the  future 
destiny  of  the  soul  was  determined  by  the  character  of  the 
life  in  this  world. 

7.  Assyria  and  Babylonia.  —  Probably  it  was  some  time 
after  Egypt  had  become  a  highly  civilized  state  that  the 
lower  valleys  of  the  Tigris  and  the  Euphrates,  which  present 
some  of  the  same  conditions  favoring  the  formation  of  a 
settled  community,  became  the  seat 
of  what  we  may  call  the  second  of 
the  great  states  of  ancient  Oriental 
history,  Assyria.  Different  king- 
doms follow  one  another  in  this 
region  in  a  series  whose  chronol- 
ogy is  very  uncertain.  The  earli- 
est is  a  Chaldaean  or  old  Babylonian 
kingdom,  whose  centre  was  towards 
the  south,  and  which  was  contempo- 
rary with  the  earliest  history  of  the  Hebrews.  Towards  the 
end  of  the  twelfth  century  b.c.  there  began  to  arise  in  the 
north  the  Assyrian  kingdom  proper.  After  a  long  struggle 
Babylonia  was  overcome  and  absorbed  in  Assyria.  The  great 
period  of  Assyrian  history  begins  about  the  middle  of  the 
eighth  century,  and  lasts  for  something  more  than  a  hundred 
years.  The  greatest  kings  are  Sargon,  who  conquered  the 
kingdom  of  Israel  and  carried  the  ten  tribes  into  captivity, 
and  Sennacherib,  who  defeated  King  Hezekiah  and  besieged 
Jerusalem.  But  the  great  period  of  Assyrian  history  was 
short.  Her  empire  was  too  large  for  her  resources,  which 
were  soon  exhausted,  and  Assyria  passed  into  a  decline 
which  was  hastened  by  the  rise,  farther  north,  of  a  kingdom 
of  the  Medes,  and  to  the  south  by  the  recovery  of  Babylonia. 
The  new  Babylonian  kingdom  was  also  short  lived.  It  had 
its  great  period  in  the  reign  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  who  sacked 


Nebuchadnezzar 


3] 


The  Hebrews 


ii 


Jerusalem,  and  took  the  city  of  Tyre  after  a  long  siege.  In 
the  next  reign  the  kingdom  was  swallowed  up  in  the  grow- 
ing empire  of  the  Medes  and  Persians  under  Cyrus. 

The  civilization  of  the  Chaldaeans  and  Assyrians  was  very 
interesting  and  peculiar.  They  had  a  form  of  writing  of 
their  own  which  we  call  the  cuneiform  because  of  its  wedge- 
shaped  characters.  In  this  they  made  very  extensive 
records,  historical,  literary,  and  commercial.  They  wrote 
in  soft  clay  tablets  or  bricks  which  were  afterwards  baked 
and  so  preserved.  Large  libraries  of  these  have  been 
found  by  the  explorers  in  the  ruins  of  their  cities.  Their 
buildings  were  extensive  though  not  so  grand  or  magnificent 
as  those  of  the  Egyptians,  and  they  were  often  ornamented 
with  interesting  figures  of  huge  winged  beasts.  In  their 
literature  we  find  stories  corresponding  in  some  ways  with 
those  recorded  in  the  early  chapters  of  Genesis,  especially 
a  story  of  the  deluge.  Their  interest  in  the  worship  of  the 
stars  and  their  belief  that  they  influenced  the  fate  of  men, 
led  them  to  give  much  attention  to  the  study  of  astronomy, 
and  they  laid  the  foundations  of  this  science  for  other 
nations. 

8.  The  Hebrews.  —  Before  the  fall  of  Babylonia  the  in- 
dependent history  of  the  Hebrews  had  come  to  an  end. 
After  the  escape  of  the  Hebrews  from  slavery  in  Egypt  and 
their  difficult  conquest  of  the  promised  land,  there  followed 
a  period  in  their  history  of  local  independence  and  separa- 
tion, almost  of  anarchy,  the  time  of  the  Judges,  who  were 
their  leaders  in  almost  continuous  warfare  with  the  neigh- 
boring tribes.  From  this  condition  they  emerged  in  the 
time  of  the  prophet  Samuel  by  the  choice  of  a  king,  Saul, 
who  united  all  the  Hebrew  tribes  into  a  nation  and  secured 
their  independence  from  their  more  dangerous  neighbors. 
He  was  succeeded  by  David,  the  great  soldier  and  poet- 
king,  who  so  extended  his  kingdom  that  we  may  almost 
speak  of  a  Hebrew  empire.  He  made  Jerusalem  the 
capital  of  the  monarchy.  His  son,  Solomon,  devoted  him- 
self to  the  encouragement  of  commerce  and  to  the  adorn- 


The  records 
and  civiliza- 
tion of  the 
Assyrians. 


Ward,  731* 
Master  of  the 
Magicians 
(novel ;  6th 
century  B.C.). 


Early  He- 
brew history. 


Its  period  of 
greatness. 


12 


The  Oriental  Nations 


Its  decline. 


ment  of  his  capital  rather  than  to  war.  He  built  the 
beautiful  temple  at  Jerusalem,  and  was  famed  through  all 
that  part  of  Asia  for  his  own  wisdom  and  for  the  luxury  of 
his  court.  These  two  reigns  cover  the  whole  period  of 
Hebrew  greatness.     A   great   rebellion  broke   out   on   the 


A  Section  of  the  Black  Obelisk  of  Shalmanezar 


refusal  of  Solomon's  son,  Rehoboam,  to  reduce  the  heavy 
taxes,  and  the  ten  tribes  of  the  north  set  up  an  independent 
state,  the  kingdom  of  Israel.  The  age  which  followed  is 
that  of  the  great  prophets,  who  are  continually  striving  to 
hold  the  people  to  the  worship  of  the  true  God.  Then 
came  very  soon  the  conquest  of  the  country  by  the  Assyrians 
and  the  Babylonians.  From  these,  what  was  left  of  the 
Hebrew  state  passed  under  the  rule  of  the  Persians,  then 


§9] 


The  Phoenicians 


13 


of  the  successors  of  Alexander  the  Great,  and  finally  of  the 
Romans,  by  whom  the  city  of  Jerusalem  was  almost  destroyed. 

Of  the  ancient  Oriental  states  none  has  had  so  profound 
an  influence  upon  the  history  of  the  world  as  the  Hebrew. 
The  most  beneficent  of  the  world  religions,  the  Christian, 
rests  upon  the  foundation  of  their  religious  experience,  and 
their  sacred  writings,  even  considered  independently  of  the 
divine  truth  which  they  record,  are  the  most  valuable  con- 
tribution ever  made  to  the  world's  religious  literature. 

9.  The  Phoenicians. — Along  the  seacoast  of  Palestine, 
shut  in  to  a  narrow  strip  of  land  by  the  mountains  behind 
them,  were  the  cities  of  the  Phoenicians.  Though  they  were 
really  one  people,  Semitic  in  race,  they  never  formed  a 
state,  but  the  separate  cities  remained  independent  like 
those  of  the  Greeks.  Their  situation  made  them  turn  natu- 
rally to  the  sea,  and  they  became  the  first  of  the  world's 
great  commercial  powers.  Sidon  and  Tyre  are  their  greatest 
cities.  In  the  first  period  of  their  history,  before  the  rise  of 
the  Greeks,  their  ships  visited  all  the  coasts  of  the  eastern 
Mediterranean  and  of  the  Black  Sea,  opening  mines  and 
founding  trading-stations  wherever  they  could.  They  rarely 
attempted  to  resist  the  great  conquering  nations  of  the 
continent,  and  submitted  first  to  the  Egyptians  and  then  to 
the  Persians,  finding  much  profit  in  the  commerce  and 
carrying  trade  which  was  thus  opened  to  them.  In  a  later 
period  they  visited  in  the  same  way  all  parts  of  the  western 
Mediterranean,  and  even  ventured  into  the  Atlantic.  The 
greatest  of  their  colonies  was  Carthage  in  northern  Africa, 
which  was  destined  to  dispute  for  nearly  a  century  the 
empire  of  the  west  with  the  Romans.  In  the  arts  and 
sciences  the  Phoenicians  were  the  immediate  instructors  of 
the  Greeks,  and  so  of  all  the  world.  Our  modern  alphabets 
are  probably  all  developed  from  the  forms  of  the  letters 
which  they  taught  to  the  Greeks,  and  in  shipbuilding  and 
navigation,  and  many  forms  of  manufacture,  as  well  as  in  the 
fine  arts,  the  Greeks,  who  were  our  teachers,  learned  from 
them. 


The  religion 
of  the  He- 
brews and  its 
results. 


The  Phoeni- 
cians. 

Rawlinson, 

Phcenicia 

(Nations). 


Their  com- 
merce, 


and  colonies. 


Their 
services  to 
civilization. 


14 


The  Oriental  Nations 


[§io 


Cyrus  the 

Great, 

d.  529  B.C. 

Church, 

Stories  of  the 

East,  Chaps. 

V.-VIII. 

Herodotus, 

Bk.  I.  107  ff. 


Invasion  of 
Europe. 


10.   The  Persian  Empire.  —  All  these  Oriental  states  were 
finally  swallowed  up  in  the  last  and  the  greatest  of  them, 

^  the  empire  of  the 

Persians,  the  first 
empire  established 
by  any  of  the  Aryan 
nations.  Cyrus  the 
Great,  about  the 
middle  of  the  sixth 
century,  was  the 
founder  of  this 
empire,  and  con- 
quered almost  the 
whole  of  western 
Asia.  Cambyses, 
his  son,  added 
Egypt.  Darius  I. 
conquered  the  val- 
ley of  the  Indus  in 
India,  and  crossed 
into  Europe  with  a 
great  army,  witli 
which  he  subdued 
Thrace,  made 
Macedonia  tribu- 
tary, and  crossing 
the  Danube  in- 
vaded even  mod- 
ern Russia.  An- 
gered at  the  aid 
which    the   Athen- 

L^^^j     _>jf  ,    ^^T^£Q.  i     ians    Save    to    the 

* ■ '     Greek     cities     of 

Darius  and  Attendants  Asia  Minor,  which 

were  in  revolt 
against  him,  he  began  the  great  Persian  wars  of  Greek 
history,  and  with  the  aid  of  the  Phoenician  fleet  landed 


§  io]  The  Persian  Empire  15 

a  force  near  Athens,  where  it  was  defeated  in  the  battle  490  b.c. 
of  Marathon.     The  reign  of  Darius  I.  is  the  highest  point 
of  the  Persian  Empire.     Decline  began  immediately;  and 
though    the    empire   lasted   for   a   century   and   a   half,   it 
made  no  further  conquests,  and  fell  easily  on  the  attack  of 
Alexander  the  Great  towards  the  end  of  the  fourth  century.   Persian 
To  the  civilization  of  the  world  the  Persians  made  no  con-   civilization. 
tributions  in  proportion  to  the  size  of  their  empire.     They 
possessed  the  Aryan  gift  of  political  organization,  and  held 
their  conquests  under  a  firmer  rule  than  had  any  of  the 
earlier  empires.     Their  government  by  jsatraps,  or  provin- 
cial governors,  held  to  a  strict  accountability,  has  been  often 
imitated  in  the  East.      Their  great  religious  teacher  was 
Zoroaster,  and  the  fundamental  idea  of  their  religion  was  Zoroaster. 
the  existence  of  two  great  and  eternal  powers,  one  of  good  Crawford. 
and  the  other  of  evil,  continuously  striving  for  the  posses-    (novef^th 
sion  of  the  universe  in  a  never-ending  conflict  —  an  idea   century  b.c). 
which  influenced  the  belief  of  philosophers  in  more  than  one 
period  of  later  history. 

The  history  of  these  Oriental  nations  is  rather  preliminary   introductory 
to  the  history  of  our  own  civilization  than  a  part  of  it.     It  is  hlstorv- 
its  introduction.     They  taught  the  nations  of  Europe  many 
things,  but  the  main  body  of  our  civilization  is  independent 
of  theirs,  and  only  slightly  influenced  by  it. 

Topics 

What  is  the  object  of  the  study  of  history?  The  periods  of  history, 
and  the  reasons  for  these  divisions.  The  sources  of  knowledge  of  pre- 
historic times,  especially  language.  Why  did  the  parent  race  divide 
into  separate  nations  ?  The  three  great  races  and  their  place  in  his- 
tory. Name  in  order  the  great  races  which  have  made  our  civilization. 
Circumstances  which  favored  an  early  civilization  in  Egypt.  Charac- 
teristics of  the  early,  middle,  and  later  periods  of  Egyptian  history. 
The  connection  of  Egypt  with  Greece.  The  records  of  the  Egyptians. 
Their  religion.  The  second  of  the  great  Oriental  states.  The  records 
and  the  civilization  of  the  Assyrians.  Early  Hebrew  history.  The 
great  period  of  the  Hebrew  monarchy.     Its  quick  decline.     The  He- 


i6 


The  Oriental  Nations 


[§io 


brew  religion  and  religious  literature.  In  what  ways  are  we  indebted 
to  the  Phoenicians?  The  first  great  Aryan  empire.  Its  relations  with 
Europe.     Its  civilization  and  religion. 

Topics  for  Assigned  Studies 

The  primitive  weaver.     Mason,  Woman's  Share  in  Primitive  Culture, 

Chap.  III. 
The  houses  of  the  primitive  Indo-Europeans.     Jevons'  translation  of 

Schrader,  Chap.  IX. 
Egyptian  ideas  of  the  future  life.      Maspero,  Dawn  of  Civilization, 

pp.  182-200. 
The  private  life  of  an  Assyrian.      Maspero,  Life  in  Ancient  Egypt 

and  Assyria,  Chap.  XII. 
Early  Germanic  weapons.      Du  Chaillu,   The   Viking  Age,  Vol.  II., 

Chap.  VI. 


Necropolis  of  Darius  near  Persepolis 


PART    II 

THE   GREEK  PERIOD 

Books  for  Reference  and  Further  Reading 

Grote,  History  of  Greece.     12  vols.     (Harper;  $18.00.) 

Curtius,  History  of  Greece.  5  vols.  (Scribner's;  $10.00.)  The  stand- 
ard histories.  Very  full  and  supplementing  one  another  in  many 
ways. 

Holm,  History  of  Greece.  4  vols.  (Macmillan;  $10.00.)  To  the 
completion  of  the  Roman  conquest.  Translation  from  the  Ger- 
man. The  most  recent  detailed  history  in  English.  Very  satis- 
factory on  the  political  side,  and  with  very  full  bibliographical 
references. 

Beloch,  Griechische  Geschichte.  2  vols.  (Triibner;  Strasburg;  Marks 
16.50.)     Very  good  on  the  economic  history. 

Cox,  History  of  Greece.  (Harper;  $1.25.)  Probably  the  best  one- 
volume  history. 

Reber,  History  of  Ancient  Art.  (Harper;  $3.50.)  Illustrated.  All 
ancient  art  from  Egypt  to  Rome. 

Murray,  Classical  Greek  Literature.     (Appleton;   $1.50.) 

Mahaffy,  History  of  Classical  Greek  Literature.  2  vols.  (Macmillan; 
$4.50.) — Social  Life  in  Greece.  (Macmillan;  $2.50.) — A  Sur- 
vey of  Greek  Civilization.     (Flood  and  Vincent;  $1.00.) 

Bliimner,  The  Home  Life  of  the  Ancient  Greeks.     (Cassell;   $2.00.) 
Nearly  the  whole  of  Greek  literature,  including  the  historians,  has 

been  translated  into  English,  and  may  be  read  in  the  Bohn  Library 

(Macmillan)  or  in  Harper's  Classical  Library. 

Summary 

European  history  was  opened  by  the  Greeks.  They  were  a 
small  people,  and  the  land  they  occupied  was  not  large.  But 
their  natural  gifts  were  so  high  and  were  so  stimulated  by  the 
beauty  of  their  climate  and  of  the  land  and  sea  around  them  that 
they  were  able  to  make  a  contribution  to  the  permanent  civiliza- 
c  17 


1 8  The  Early  History 

tion  of  the  world  in  literature,  and  art,  and  scientific  thinking, 
which  has  never  been  surpassed  by  any  of  the  greater  nations 
that  have  followed  them.  Two  leading  divisions  of  the  Greeks 
made  their  history,  —  the  tribes  of  the  Ionians  and  of  the  Dorians. 
The  Dorians  were  less  attracted  by  literature  and  art,  and  more 
by  a  military  life.  Their  leading  state  was  Sparta.  The  Ionians 
produced  the  greater  part  of  Greek  literature  and  philosophy, 
and  Athens  was  their  leading  state.  After  a  long  period  of 
more  or  less  legendary  history,  the  Greek  race  first  came  clearly 
forward  on  the  stage  of  history  in  a  life  and  death  struggle  to 
prevent  the  absorption  of  their  land  in  a  great  Asiatic  empire  — 
the  empire  of  Persia,  which  had  already  conquered  the  Asiatic 
Greeks.  In  the  first  attack  of  Persia  the  burden  of  the  defence 
fell  upon  Athens,  which  gained  the  victory  of  Marathon.  In  the 
second,  more  of  the  Greek  states  were  united,  and  the  Spartans 
fought  at  Thermopylae,  and  the  fleet,  largely  Athenian,  gained 
the  victory  of  Salamis,  though  Athens  itself  was  taken  and  de- 
stroyed. The  Persians  abandoned  the  attack  after  this  failure, 
and  in  the  effort  of  the  Greeks  during  the  next  few  years  to  drive 
their  fleets  and  garrisons  from  the  islands  of  the  ^Egean  the 
Confederacy  of  Delos  was  organized  which  Athens  gradually 
turned  into  an  empire  of  her  own  over  other  Greeks.  Then  fol- 
lowed the  greatest  age  of  Athenian  history  —  the  age  of  Peri- 
cles, brilliant  in  art  and  opening  a  great  literary  period  in  the 
works  of  the  tragic  poets.  But  in  the  meantime  jealousy  be- 
tween Athens  and  Sparta  had  been  increasing  and  they  were 
now  at  the  point  of  war.  The  great  civil  war  of  Greek  history 
—  the  Peloponnesian  War  —  lasted  twenty-seven  years  and 
ended  in  the  ruin  of  Athens.  During  its  first  period,  gains  and 
losses  were  about  evenly  balanced,  but  in  the  second  the  strength 
of  Athens  was  exhausted  by  two  great  expeditions  which  she 
sent  against  the  Dorian  city  of  Syracuse  in  Sicily,  which  were 
both  totally  destroyed,  and  in  the  third,  though  she  made  a  must 
heroic  struggle,  her  last  fleet  was  surprised  and  captured,  and 
the  city  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Spartans.  The  age  which 
followed  is  the  unhappy  period  of  Greek  history.  The  rule  of 
Sparta  was  harsh  and  selfish.  Revolts  and  civil  strife  were  fre- 
quent. Athens  recovered  something  of  her  power.  Thebes 
rose  to  a  brief  supremacy.  But  Greece  was  not  strong  enough 
to  prevent  the  interference  of  Persia  in  her  domestic  affairs  and 
had  to  submit  to  her  dictation.  Toward  the  close  of  the  period 
a  half-Greek  state  —  Macedonia  in  the  north  —  suddenly  rose  to 
power,  and  under  Philip  conquered  Greece  and  formed  a  military 


§11] 


Primitive  Greek  History 


19 


union  of  the  Greek  states.  Philip's  son,  Alexander  the  Great, 
led  the  whole  force  of  Greece  against  the  Persian  Empire,  and 
conquered  for  himself  a  still  greater  empire  in  Asia,  Africa, 
and  Europe.  In  Alexander's  empire  the  language,  literature,  and 
science  of  Greece  were  made  those  of  the  whole  Eastern  world, 
and  thus  carried  on  into  the  permanent  civilization  of  mankind, 
but  in  it  also  the  history  of  Greece  came  to  an  end. 


CHAPTER   I 


THE  EARLY   HISTORY 


11.  Primitive  Greek  History.  —  Of  the  earliest  history  of 
the  Greeks  we  know  almost  nothing.  They  were  an  offshoot 
of  the  Indo-European  family,  and  must  have  separated  from 
the  parent  stock  while  still  in  a  primitive  stage  of  advance- 
ment. At  what  date  they  entered  their  future  home  we 
have  no  means  of  determining,  but  it  must  have  been  at  a 
time  when  Egypt  was  already  highly  civilized,  and  very  pos- 
sibly others  of  the  Oriental  nations  as  well. 

Nor  can  we  tell  the  route  by  which  the  Greeks  entered. 
We  find  the  same  race  occupying  in  historic  times  both 
sides  of  the  ^Egean  Sea  and  the  islands  between,  but  not 
the  head  of  the  sea  to  the  same  extent.  This  would  seem 
to  point  to  the  fact  that  originally  they  passed  down  one 
shore  or  the  other,  and  at  a  later  time  found  their  way 
across  from  island  to  island  to  the  opposite  side. 

If  we  can  trust  the  facts  which  language  seems  to  give  us, 
they  had  only  just  begun  to  till  the  soil  in  a  rudimentary 
way  when  they  separated  from  the  original  race.  The 
broken  and  even  mountainous  character  of  Greece,  how- 
ever, would  make  it  impossible  to  depend  on  flocks  and 
herds  for  sustenance,  and  would  force  a  more  settled  life 
and  the  development  of  agriculture. 

The  numerous  plains  separated  by  barriers  of  hills  that 
form  the  surface  of  the  country  made  it  easy,  also,  for  the 


Later  than 
the  Oriental 
civilizations. 


The  method 
of  the  Greek 
settlement. 


Develop- 
ment of 
agriculture 
follows. 

Holm.Vol.I. 
Chap.  I. 


20 


The  Early  History 


[§I2 


The  physical 
character  of 
the  land 
favored  small 
states. 


Legendary 
history. 


Cox,  Tales  of 

Ancient 

Greece. 


Earlier 
inhabitants 
of  the  land. 

Holm.Vol.  I. 
Chap.  VI. 


The  three 
great  tribes. 


race  to  separate,  as  population  grew,  into  small  groups  be- 
tween whom  would  naturally  soon  grow  up  little  differences  of 
dialect  and  habits.  As  population  became  still  more  dense 
and  permanent  property  increased,  these  groups  of  families, 
perhaps  several  of  them  together  where  communication  was 
easy,  began  to  form  more  definite  political  organizations, 
and  so  originated  the  later  states  of  Greece. 

12.  The  Legendary  Period.  —  When  the  Greeks  came,  at 
a  much  later  time,  to  reason  about  their  own  earliest  history, 
they  built  up  a  great  literature  of  myths  and  legends  con- 
cerning it  in  which  gods  and  demi-gods  had  as  large  a 
place  as  men.  In  many  cases  no  doubt  a  germ  of  actual 
tradition  was  at  the  beginning  of  these  stories,  but  it  is 
impossible  for  us  now  to  separate  the  real  from  the 
imaginary. 

The  Greeks  always  called  themselves  Hellenes,  and  their 
land  Hellas.  They  tell  us  of  a  race  which  they  seem  to 
distinguish  from  themselves,  called  the  Pelasgoi,  and  in 
some  of  the  later  Greek  states  we  find  a  subject  population 
in  a  semi-servile  condition,  as  if  it  had  been  conquered  by 
the  Greeks  when  they  entered  the  country,  like  the  Helots 
in  Lacedaemonia.  But  we  cannot  now  be  quite  sure  who 
the  Pelasgoi  were,  nor  in  what  relation  they  stood  to  the 
first  Greek  settlers. 

The  Greeks  divided  themselves  into  three  great  tribes, 
the  Ionian,  the  Dorian,  and  the  ^olian,  a  division  which 
we  can  trace,  at  least  in  general  lines,  in  differences  of 
speech  and  in  tribal  characteristics,  for  the  Ionians  are  the 
most  intellectual,  the  Dorians  the  most  military,  and  the 
Cohans  the  most  primitive  and  undeveloped  of  the  Greeks. 
The  great  age  of  Greek  history  is  made  up  chiefly  of  the 
deeds  and  the  rivalries  of  the  Ionians  and  the  Dorians. 
Nearly  all  the  great  names  belong  to  them.  Almost  the 
whole  of  Greek  literature,  science,  and  art  is  theirs,  and 
indeed  they  are  chiefly  Ionian.  And  the  sending  forth  of 
colonies,  which  were  even  more  numerous  and  widely  ex- 
tended than  those  of  the  Phoenicians,  and  took  possession 


§§13,  h]  The  Spartans  21 

of  almost  all  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  and  even 
of  the  Black  Sea,  was  mainly  their  work. 

13.  The  Homeric  Age.  —  Of  the  events  of  Greek  legen-  The  siege 
dary  history,  the  most  interesting  is  that  recorded  in  the   ofTrov- 
Iliad  of  Homer,  the  ten  years'  siege  of  Troy  by  the  allied 

Greek  states.     The  events  of  the  story  we  cannot  be  sure  of,   Church,  The 
but  we  can  draw  from  the  Homeric  poems  a  picture  of  the  story  °fthe 
early  civilization  and  governments  of  Greece  which  is  all  Agnes  M. 
the  more  trustworthy  because  it  is  unconscious,  but  which  Clarke, 
perhaps  represents  the  states  in  different  stages  of  advance-   ^nlhar 
ment.     The  states  of  the  Homeric  Age  were  small.     Each  Homer. 
had  at  its  head  a  king  who  was  at  once  general,  priest,  and  Fling, 
judge,  but  whose  power  in  the  state  was  limited   or  was   ^"d"s' 
coming  to  be  limited,  by  a  council,  a  kind  of  senate  of    The  earl 
elders  or  nobles,  and  by  a  general  assembly  of  the  free  men,  government, 
which  had,  however,  very  little  power.     This  is  a  constitu- 
tion similar  to  that  which  we  find  in  the  early  history  of 
many  of  the  Indo-European  states. 

Another  event  about  which  many  legends  gathered,  but  The  Dorian 
which  we  feel  sure  must   have  been  a  real  occurrence,  is  migration- 
the  migration  of  the  Dorians.     From  the  north  of  Greece 
they  passed  south,  and  conquering  the  Greeks  who  dwelt 
there  in  Homer's  time,  they  became  the  ruling  race  in  the 
Peloponnesus. 

During  the  great  age  of  Greek  history,  the  Ionic  people  The  two 
of  Athens  and  the  Dorian  Spartans  are  the  leading  and  most  sreat  states- 
interesting  states. 

14.  The  Spartans. — The  Spartans  ascribed  their  peculiar 
social  and  political  organization,  which  was  the  real  source 
of  their  power,  to  a  half  historical,  half  legendary  lawgiver, 
Lycurgus.     Their  institutions  were  so  well  adapted  to  their  Lycurgus, 
situation,  a  small  ruling  class  keeping  in  subjugation  a  much  *bout 
larger  conquered  population,  that  they  were  probably  the 

result  of  experience  and  growth,  though  very  likely  the 
process  was  assisted  by  the  genius  of  some  statesman  who 
may  well  have  been  Lycurgus. 

In  form  the  government  of  Sparta  was  a  kingdom.     It 


22 


The  Early  History 


[§'5 


A  peculiar 
form  of 
monarchy. 


The  general 
constitution. 


A  race  of 
soldiers. 
Fling, 
Studies, 
No.  3. 


The  story  of 
the  boy  who 
had  stolen 
the  fox,  in 
Plutarch's 
Life  of 
Lycurgus. 

Spartan 
fortitude. 


was  a  peculiar  kingdom,  however,  from  the  fact  that  there 
were  always  two  kings.  The  Spartans  accounted  for  this 
peculiarity  by  a  tradition  that  in  early  times  a  king  had  left 
twin  sons  who  were  given  equal  authority  and  founded  two 
lines  of  kings.  It  is  more  probably  explained  by  some  for- 
gotten fact  of  their  primitive  history,  like  the  union  of  two 
tribes  to  form  the  state. 

The  kings  performed  the  same  duties  as  the  Homeric  king, 
but  their  power  was  much  less.  The  real  government  of  the 
state  was  in  the  hands  of  the  council  of  "  elders,"  twenty-eight 
in  number,  elected  by  the  public  assembly.  This  was  com- 
posed of  all  Spartans  who  had  reached  full  age,  thirty  years, 
but  it  had  no  power  except  to  sanction  the  acts  of  the  coun- 
cil. In  later  times  there  were  elected  each  year  a  body  of  five 
men,  called  ephors,or  "  overseers,"  whose  business  it  was  to 
look  after  the  interests  of  the  state,  and  especially  to  check 
any  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  kings  to  become  real  rulers. 

15.  A  Military  Communism.  — The  avowed  object  of  the 
government  was  to  make  of  the  Spartans  a  race  of  soldiers. 
The  work  of  selection  was  begun  at  birth,  for  only  strong  and 
well-formed  children  were  allowed  to  live.  At  seven  years 
of  age  the  state  assumed  the  training  of  the  future  soldier. 
He  was  made  to  be  strong  in  body,  skilful  in  the  use  of  arms, 
and  to  endure  pain  without  complaint.  At  twenty  years  the 
young  man  was  admitted  to  the  army,  and  from  this  time  he 
lived  almost  as  a  soldier  in  camp,  having  his  meals  with  his 
military  mess. 

The  training  of  the  women  was  almost  as  severe  as  that  of 
the  men,  and  led  naturally  to  that  Spartan  fortitude  which 
made  them  rejoice  over  their  relatives  who  had  died  with 
honor  on  the  field,  and  sorrow  over  those  who  had  survived 
disgracefully.  Luxuries  were  forbidden  and  commerce  dis- 
couraged in  order  to  prevent  the  possible  enervation  of  the 
race.  The  state  was  almost  a  communism.  The  interests 
of  the  individual  were  sacrificed  to  those  of  the  state,  or 
they  were  by  the  Spartan  so  identified  with  those  of  the 
state  that  he  could  not  distinguish  between. 


24 


The  Early  History 


[§§  16-18 


16.  The  Spartans,  a  Ruling  Minority. —  Institutions  of  this 
sort  were  practically  forced  upon  the  Spartans,  for  they  were 
a  small  body  ruling  a  much  larger  population.  Sparta  seems 
never  to  have  had  more  than  ten  thousand  citizens,  and  in 
later  times  the  number  was  much  smaller  than  this.  Their 
subjects  were  divided  into  two  classes,  each  many  times  their 
own  number.  The  Periceci  were  free  men,  though  they  had 
no  political  rights.  Their  position,  however,  was  a  good 
one.  They  served  with  the  Spartans  in  war  and  might  even 
become  officers.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Helots  were  serfs 
attached  to  the  soil.  They  were  employed  as  light-armed 
troops,  but  the  Spartans  were  constantly  in  fear  of  their  in- 
surrection and  watched  with  the  greatest  vigilance  for  any 
sign  of  insubordination,  which  was  cruelly  punished. 

If,  as  tradition  said,  these  institutions  were  established 
when  Sparta  was  still  a  small  state,  closely  surrounded  by 
neighbors  as  strong  as  herself,  they  soon  had  their  effect  in 
military  successes,  which  in  the  course  of  two  centuries  re- 
sulted in  the  conquest  of  Messenia,  and  in  another  hundred 
years  Sparta  became  the  most  powerful  state  in  the  Pelopon- 
nesus through  the  overthrow  of  the  Arcadians  and  the  Ar- 
gives.  By  this  time  also  the  Spartan  heavy-armed  infantry 
had  acquired  the  reputation  throughout  Greece  of  an  invinci- 
ble military  force,  and  this  reputation  Sparta  long  maintained. 

17.  Athens.  — The  legendary  history  of  Athens  ascribed 
the  foundation  of  its  greatness  and  of  its  supremacy  in 
Attica  to  Theseus.  Certainly  at  the  beginning  of  historic 
times  the  country  territory  was  ruled  by  the  city,  though  ap- 
parently in  primitive  times  it  had  formed  many  states.  The 
early  monarchy  of  the  Homeric  type  had  been  abolished 
before  this  date,  legend.said,  in  recognition  of  the  devotion 
of  the  last  king,  Codrus,  who  gave  his  life  to  win  a  battle. 

18.  Constitutional  Changes  in  Athens.  — Through  all  the 
first  centuries  of  its  history,  the  constitution  of  Athens  was 
constantly  changing,  and  always  towards  a  more  democratic 
type.  At  first  the  changes  were  in  favor  of  the  aris- 
tocracy at  the  expense  of  the  king,  who  was  forced  to  give 


26 


The  Early  History 


[§  i9 


Fling, 
Studies, 
No.  2. 
Hrownson's 
Smith's 
History  of 
Greece, 
Chap.  V. 
Holm,  I., 
Chap.  XXVI. 
Aristotle's 
Athenian 
Constitution, 
translation  of 
Poste  (Mac- 
millan). 
Changes  in 
the  councils. 


Early  strife 

and 

the  tyrannies. 


Draco, 
624  B.C. 


up  first  one  and  then  another  of  his  functions  to  elected 
officers.  In  752  B.C.,  the  term  of  the  officers  was  made  ten 
years.  Later  it  was  reduced  to  one  year,  and  the  number 
was  made  nine  to  whom  the  name  of  arcons  was  given. 
These  offices  were  confined  at  first  to  the  nobles,  and  only 
at  a  later  time  thrown  open  to  all  citizens.  But  these 
changes  were  accompanied  with  a  gradual  reduction  of  the 
powers  of  the  arcons,  and  the  powers  taken  from  them  were 
transferred  to  the  council  and  the  assembly. 

At  the  beginning  the  Athenian  public  assembly,  the  Ec- 
clesia,  had  little  real  power,  but  the  changes  in  the  constitu- 
tion tended  to  enlarge  its  membership  greatly  and  to  give  it 
a  larger  share  in  the  direction  of  affairs.  The  original  coun- 
cil, or  senate,  was  the  Areopagus,  which  when  the  aristocracy 
was  supreme,  had  been  the  real  governing  body,  but  which 
was  finally  limited  to  a  general  censorship  of  religion  and 
public  policy.  Its  place  as  an  active  council,  supervising 
the  business  of  the  assembly,  was  taken  by  a  second  senate 
called  the  Boul£,  established  by  Solon,  or  perhaps  earlier  by 
Draco,  and  composed  at  first  of  four  hundred,  and  later  of 
five  hundred,  members. 

The  period  of  these  constitutional  changes,  which  ex- 
tended through  several  centuries,  was  characterized  by 
much  party  strife,  by  the  measures  of  celebrated  reformers, 
and  by  the  establishment  or  attempted  establishment  of 
tyrannies  in  the  Greek  sense ;  that  is,  the  arbitrary  power  of 
one  man,  founded  and  maintained  in  an  illegal  way,  but 
not  necessarily  tyrannical  in  the  modern  sense. 

19.  The  Great  Reformers.  — Near  the  end  of  the  seventh 
century  Draco  reduced  to  writing  the  unwritten  laws  of  the 
state,  which  up  to  this  time  had  been  known  to  the  nobles 
only.  This  made  evident  to  all  the  cruel  character  of  the 
old  laws,  and  assisted  in  the  process  of  change.  Soon  after 
the  opening  of  the  sixth  century  reforms  were  made  under 
the  leadership  of  Solon.  These  were  partly  economic  in 
character.  They  favored  the  poorer  classes  in  the  state  by 
making  the  laws  in  regard  to  debt  less  severe  and  by  limit- 


§  2o]  Tzvo   Typical  Greek  Constitutions  2  J 

ing  the  amount  of  land  which  one  person  could  hold.     For  Solon, 
purposes  of  government,  improving  perhaps  upon  an  earlier  594  B-c- , 
classification  which  had  been  made  by  Draco,  he  divided   ufeofScion 
the  citizens  into  four  classes  according  to  their  wealth,  giv- 
ing to  the  wealthiest  class  the  most  power  and  an  exclusive 
right  to  the  highest  offices,  but  giving  to  the  poorest  class 
some  slight  voice  in  public  affairs  through  membership  in 
the  Ecclesia.     This  was  an  arrangement  not  entirely  satis- 
factory in  itself,  but  it  seems  to  have  been  a  necessary  step 
in  the  transformation  of  an  aristocracy  into  a  democracy. 

The  reforms  of  Solon  did  not  bring  party  strife  to   an 
end,  however,  and  within  a  short  time  power  was  seized  by 
Pisistratus,  who  made  himself  tyrant.     His  rule  was  a  very   Pisistratus, 
enlightened  one.     The  city  was  beautified,  art  and  literature  ^^^ 
encouraged,  and  the  foundations  of  the  sea- power  of  the   Herodotus, 
Athenians  were  laid.     His  sons,  Hippias  and  Hipparchus,   1.59-64. 
ruled  with  less  prudence,  and  the  tyranny  was  overthrown  at  510  b.c. 
the  end  of  the  sixth  century. 

Soon  after  this  event  the  reforms  of  Cleisthenes  were  car-  The  final 
ried  through,  and  these  completed  the  organization  of  the  reforms- 
Athenian  democracy.     The  practice  of  ostracism  was  also  Ostracism, 
adopted  at  this  time,  by  which  any  citizen  whose  growing 
power  seemed  dangerous  could  be  banished  by  a  simple  vote 
of  the  assembly  without  assigning  reasons. 

20.   The  Two  Typical  Greek  Constitutions. — These  two 
constitutions,  the  democratic  of  Athens,  and  the  aristocratic 
of  Sparta,  may  be  regarded  as  types  of  the  constitutions  of 
all  the  Greek  states.     Each  had  its  aristocratic  and  its  demo-   Parties  in  the 
cratic   party,  and  these  were   constantly  striving  with  one  Greek  cities- 
another  for  supremacy,  often  with  appeals  to  arms,  or  with 
secret  plots  leading  to  assassination  and  to  massacre.     In 
many  of  the  states  tyrants  were  able  at  some  time  or  other 
to  take  advantage  of  the  bitter  party  strife  to  establish  their 
illegal  power,  which  in  some  cases  lasted  for  several  genera- 
tions.    When  the  time  came  of  the  rivalry  of  Athens  and  Thei5 
Sparta  for  the  headship  of  Greece,  the  democratic  party  in  AthenTand 
each  state  looked  naturally  to  Athens  for  support,  and  Sparta  Sparta. 


28  The  Early  History 

sought  to  establish  her  control  by  putting  the  aristocracy  in 
power  wherever  she  could. 

Topics 

The  migration  and  settlement  of  the  Greeks.  Their  earliest  civili- 
zation. Threefold  division.  The  legendary  age.  Government  in 
Homer.  The  two  great  Greek  states.  The  peculiarities  of  Spartan 
government.  Its  military  and  communistic  features.  Why  were  these 
features  necessary?  Spartan  conquests  and  military  reputation.  Early 
history  of  Athens.  Its  democratic  tendency.  Points  of  contrast  be- 
tween Athens  and  Sparta.  The  code  of  Draco.  The  reforms  of 
Solon  and  of  Cleisthenes.     What  was  a  tyrant  in  the  Greek  sense? 

Topics  for  Assigned  Studies 

Lycurgus  and  the  Spartan  government.  Grote,  Part  II.,  Chap.  VI. 
Holm,  Vol.  I.,  Chap.  XV.  Curtius,  Book  II.,  Chap.  I.  Plutarch's 
Life  of  Lycurgus.     Fling,  Studies,  No.  3. 

The  Greek  tyrant.  Grote,  Part  II.,  Chap.  IX.  Curtius,  Book  II., 
Chap.  I.     Mahaffy,  Problems  in  Greek  History,  Chap.  IV. 

The  Greek  colonies.  Curtius,  Vol.  I.,  Book  II.,  pp.  432-500.  Hofan, 
Vol.  I.,  Chap.  XXI.  Grote,  Vol.  III.,  Chap.  XXII.  Greek 
colonies  and  English  colonies  are  compared  in  Freeman's  lecture, 
Greater  Greece  and  Greater  Britain  (Macmillan). 


Coin  of  Elis  with  Figure  of  Zeus 


CHAPTER   II 

THE    STRUGGLE    OF    GREECE    WITH    PERSIA    AND    ITS 
RESULTS 


21.  The  Beginning  of  the  Persian  Wars.  —  Hardly  had 
the  constitution  of  Athens  assumed  its  democratic  form 
when  the  state  was  called  upon  to  take  a  foremost  part  in 
the  desperate  struggle  of  the  European  Greeks,  to  keep 
themselves  from  absorption  in  the  great  Oriental  empire  of 
the  Persians  which  had  been  created  by  Cyrus  and  his  suc- 
cessors. The  independence  of  the  Greek  cities  of  Asia 
Minor  had  somewhat  earlier  been  destroyed  by  the  Lydian 
king,  Crcesus,  but  his  kingdom  was  now  annexed  by  the 
Persians,  the  Greek  cities  included. 

About  the  year  500  a  revolt  of  the  Ionian  cities  of  Asia 
Minor  occurred,  and  the  Athenians  sent  a  force  to  aid  them, 
either  because  of  their  relationship  to  them,  or  because  they 
already  feared  an  extension  of  the  Persian  control  to  Europe. 
The  revolt  was  for  a  time  successful.  The  Greeks  burned 
Sardis,  the  Persian  capital  of  the  province,  to  the  great  anger 
of  King  Darius,  but  the  Ionian  cities  were  soon  reduced,  and 
the  chief  result  was  that  Darius  formed  a  fixed  determination 
to  chastise  the  Athenians  for  their  presumption. 

22.  The  First  and  Second  Invasions.  —  A  first  attempt 
at  invasion  through  Thrace  was  a  failure.  A  second  was 
planned  by  sea  to  land  in  Attica.  In  the  meantime  many 
of  the  islands  of  the  ALgean  had  been  reduced  by  the 
Phoenician  fleets  in  the  service  of  Darius.  In  490  a  great 
Persian  army  was  landed  at  Marathon  on  the  east  side  of 
Attica.     The  Athenians  had  only  about  one  man  for  ten  of 

29 


A.  J.  Church, 
The  Story  of 
the  Persian 
War,  from 
Herodotus. 
Herodotus, 
Books 
VI.-IX.* 
Cox,  The 
Greeks  and 
the  Persians 
(Epochs). 
The  Greeks 
of  Asia 
Minor  rebel. 


Herodotus, 
V.  105. 


30 


Struggle  of  Greece  with  Persia 


[§23 


Battle  of 
Marathon, 
490  B.C. 
Holm,  II., 
Chap.  II. 

Darius' 
death. 


The  third 
invasion, 
480  B.C. 
Holm.  II., 
Chap.  IV. 
Thermopy- 
lae, Herod- 
otus, VII. 
201-233 ; 
Grote.Vol.V., 
Chap.  XL; 
Curtius,  Vol. 
II.,  pp.  306- 
3"- 

The  battle  of 
Salamis, 
Herodotus, 
VIII.  70-95. 


Final  victory 
of  the 
Greeks, 
479  B.C. 


the  Persians,  for  the  little  state  of  Plataea  only  had  sent  its 
army  to  aid  them.  But  the  skilful  tactics  of  Miltiades  com- 
pletely defeated  the  enemy,  and  by  a  quick  march  across 
the  land  he  reached  Athens  in  time  to  protect  it  from  the 
Persian  fleet,  which  had  sailed  around  the  peninsula. 

Darius'  anger  was  only  increased  by  these  failures,  and  he 
began  great  preparations  for  another  invasion,  but  died 
before  the  time  of  vengeance  came.  His  plans,  however, 
were  taken  up  by  his  son  Xerxes.  The  Athenians  on  their 
side  made  equal  preparations.  Under  the  lead  of  Themis- 
tocles  they  turned  the  Peiraeus  into  a  fortified  harbor,  and 
built  great  fleets.  Aristides  opposed  the  plans  of  Themis- 
tocles  from  equally  patriotic  motives,  but  the  Athenians 
decided  in  favor  of  the  sea-power,  and  Aristides  was 
ostracized. 

23.  Xerxes'  Invasion. —  In  the  spring  of  480  Xerxes 
began  his  invasion,  passing  through  Thrace  with  an  enor- 
mous army,  while  a  great  fleet  accompanied  him,  sailing 
along  the  coast.  At  the  pass  of  Thermopylae  the  first  resist- 
ance was  met.  Here  perished  Leonidas,  one  of  the  Spartan 
kings,  with  300  Spartans  and  a  band  of  700  Thespians,  after 
a  traitor  had  shown  to  the  Persians  a  way  to  the  rear  of  the 
pass. 

Central  Greece  was  now  open  to  Xerxes.  Athens  could 
not  hope  to  defend  herself.  The  citizens  abandoned  the 
city,  which  was  destroyed  by  the  Persians,  while  the  Greek 
fleet  took  position  in  the  bay  of  Salamis  to  defend  the  Pel- 
oponnesus. The  naval  battle  which  followed  was  a  com- 
plete victory  for  the  Greeks.  Xerxes  became  alarmed  for 
his  own  safety,  and  returned  to  Asia,  comforting  his  con- 
science by  leaving  behind  a  picked  army  under  his  brother- 
in-law  Mardonius  to  complete  the  conquest  of  Greece. 

The  next  spring  this  army  was  destroyed  by  the  Greeks 
at  the  battle  of  Plataea.  At  the  same  time  the  Greek  fleet 
gained  a  great  victory  on  the  coast  of  Asia  Minor  at  the 
battle  of  Mycale\  These  victories  secured  the  freedom  of 
Greece.     Xerxes  never  renewed  the  attempt  at  conquest. 


24,25]        Rise  of  the  Athenian  Empire 


31 


Even  the  Greek  cities  of  Asia  were  allowed  to  become  free, 
and  the  Greek  fleet  gradually  drove  the  Persians  and  the 
Phoenicians  from  the  islands  of  the  ^Egean. 

24.  Leadership  in  Greece  passes  to  Athens.  —  For  a  time 
after  the  first  victories,  the  traditional  headship  of  the 
Spartans,  which  had  been  recognized  during  the  war,  was 
continued  and  the  command  of  the  fleet  given  to  their  king 
Pausanias.  But  his  pride  and  ambition  led  him  into  trea- 
sonable correspondence  with  the  Persians,  and  he  was  re- 
called to  perish  of  hunger  in  the  temple  where  he  had  taken 
sanctuary. 

This  left  the  control  of  the  fleet  in  the  hands  of  Athens, 
whose  more  energetic  leadership  was  already  recognized  by 
the  Greeks.  Under  the  command  of  Aristides  the  Just, 
whose  character  gave  the  Greek  cities  all  confidence  in  the 
plans  proposed  by  the  Athenians,  and  of  Cimon,  the  son  of 
Miltiades,  the  work  of  liberation  was  completed.  While  it 
was  going  on,  Athens  formed  a  league  for  mutual  defence 
with  the  cities  of  the  islands  and  coasts  of  the  vEgean,  called 
the  Confederacy  of  Delos.  Of  the  forces  of  this  league 
Athens  had  command,  and  the  money  collected  for  defence 
was  administered  by  her.  In  the  meantime,  under  the 
direction  of  Themistocles,  the  walls  of  Athens  were  rebuilt 
in  a  better  manner  and  the  Peiraeus  more  strongly  fortified 
than  ever  before,  in  spite  of  the  opposition  of  Sparta. 
For  some  cause  not  made  known  to  us  Themistocles  spent 
the  last  years  of  his  life  in  exile. 

25.  Rise  of  the  Athenian  Empire.  —  As  the  war  with  Persia 
died  out,  the  character  of  the  Confederacy  of  Delos  changed. 
The  allies  ceased  to  make  contributions  of  men  and  ships, 
but  paid  money  instead.  These  moneys  Athens  appro- 
priated to  her  own  use  without  rendering  accounts  to  the 
allies,  while  maintaining  fleets  strong  enough  to  prevent 
successful  opposition  from  any  member  of  the  Confederacy. 
This  was  the  beginning  of  an  Athenian  empire,  which  might 
have  grown  into  a  united  Greek  nation  had  the  course  of 
Athens  been  liberal  and  wise. 


Athens 
leader. 


The  Con- 
federacy of 
Delos, 
477  B.C. 


Cox,  The 
Athenian 
Empire 
(Epochs). 


32 


Struggle  of  Greece  with  Persia 


[§26 


A  most  im- 
portant age 
in  Greek 
history. 


The  charac- 
ter of  Athe- 
nian rule. 


The  most 
brilliant  age 
of  Athenian 
history,  459- 
431  B.C. 


Abbott, 
Pericles 
(Heroes)  ; 
Plutarch's 
Life  of 
Pericles; 
Thucydides, 
II.65. 


The  period  following  the  Persian  wars  must  be  regarded 
as  the  turning-point  in  Greek  history,  and  to  a  considerable 
extent  in  that  of  Rome  also,  for  had  Rome  been  obliged  to 
overcome  a  united  Greek  nation,  the  construction  of  her 
empire  in  the  East  would  very  likely  have  been  impossible. 
It  would  certainly  have  been  very  difficult.  But  the  Greeks 
seem  to  have  been  fatally  incapable  of  holding  others  under 
a  rule  at  once  generous  and  firm.  The  policy  of  Athens 
was  selfish  and  arrogant.  Discontent  was  harshly  sup- 
pressed. She  even  interfered  in  the  local  government  of 
the  cities  in  her  own  supposed  interests,  and  took  no  pains 
to  attach  the  allies  to  herself,  while  the  rivalry  of  Sparta 
was  becoming  more  open  and  signs  of  a  coming  struggle 
multiplied. 

26.  The  Age  of  Pericles.  —  At  home  this  was  the  most 
brilliant  age  of  Athenian  his- 
tory. The  government  grew 
more  democratic.  Pericles 
shortly  rose  to  long  and  com- 
manding influence  over  the 
policy  of  Athens  as  the  leader 
of  the  people.  The  wealth 
which  poured  into  the  city  was 
spent  with  liberal  hand  in  its 
fortification  and  beautifying. 
The  long  walls  were  built  to 
connect  the  city  with  the  Pei- 
roeus.  Athens  was  filled  with 
beautiful  buildings.  Artists,  like 
Phidias,  produced  their  immor- 
tal works.  The  great  literary 
age  of  Athens,  so  short  in  time 
but  so  entirely  unsurpassed  in 
product,  began  and  was  con- 
tinued with  the  works  of  the 
great  tragic  poets,  ^sschylus,  Sophocles,  and  Euripides.  It 
was  one  of  the  most  brilliant  ages  in  the  history  of  the  world, 


J 


Pericles 

(British  Museum.  London) 


§26] 


The  Age  of  Pericles 


33 


but  the  struggle  with  Sparta  was  drawing  nearer  with  every 
year,  and  Athens'  unskilful  management  of  her  empire  was 
preparing  a  disastrous  result. 

Topics 

How  did  the  war  between  the  Greeks  and  the  Persians  begin? 
The  battle  of  Marathon.  The  invasion  of  Xerxes.  Battle  of  Ther- 
mopylae. The  plans  of  Themistocles  and  their  success  in  the  battle 
of  Salamis.  Final  defeat  of  the  Persians.  The  confederacy  of  Delos. 
How  did  this  lead  to  an  Athenian  empire?  Why  did  Athens  fail  to 
form  a  Greek  nation?    Character  of  the  age  of  Pericles. 


Topics  for  Assigned  Studies 

The    preparations    of    Xerxes.      Grote,   Vol.   V.,    Chap.     XXXVIII. 

Curtius,  Vol.  II.,  Book  III.,  Chap.  I.,  pp.  275-280.     Herodotus, 

VII.  20-25. 
The  policy  of  Themistocles.     Grote,  Vol.  V.,  Chap.  XXXIX.     Curtius, 

Vol.    II.,    Book    III.,    Chap.    I.        Herodotus,    VII.    M3-I44- 

Plutarch,  Lives  of  Themistocles  and  Aristides. 
The    founding    of    the    Athenian    empire.      Grote,    Vol.   V.,    Chap. 

XLV.     Curtius,  Vol.  II.,  Book  III.,  Chap.  II. 


Greek  Women  decorating  an  Altar 


CHAPTER   III 


THE  PELOPONNESIAN  WAR  AND  ITS  RESULTS 


The  occasion 
of  the  war. 


43i  B.c. 


Character  of 
the  first 
period  of  the 
war. 

Pericles'  ora- 
tion over  the 
dead ;  Thu- 
cydides,  II. 
35-46;  In- 
diana, No.  1 ; 
Thucydides' 
description 
of  the  plague, 
H-47-53- 
The  death  of 
Pericles, 
429  B.C. 
The  rise  of 
demagogues. 

Spartans 
forced  to 
surrender, 
425  B.C. 


27.  The  Beginning  of  the  War.  — The  great  war  between 
Athens  and  Sparta,  for  the  headship  of  Greece,  the  Pelo- 
ponnesian  War,  began  before  the  death  of  Pericles.  Its 
immediate  occasion  was  the  defeat  inflicted  on  Corinth  by 
the  Athenians  in  support  of  Corcyra,  a  colony  of  Corinth  at 
war  with  the  mother  city.  Other  incidents,  like  a  commer- 
cial decree  of  Athens  against  Megara,  hastened  the  decision 
which  was  taken  by  a  congress  of  the  Spartan  allies  about 
the  beginning  of  431  B.C. 

When  the  war  began,  Athens  had  an  overwhelming  force 
on  the  sea,  and  Sparta  on  the  land.  It  was  thus  difficult  for 
either  to  strike  a  decisive  blow.  This  fact  gives  its  character 
to  the  first  period  of  the  war,  which  lasted  ten  years.  Athens 
during  the  most  of  this  time  suffered  more  than  Sparta.  An 
army  laid  waste  Attica  every  spring,  and  though  it  could  not 
successfully  attack  Athens,  the  city,  crowded  with  refugees, 
suffered  severely  from  pestilence.  In  turn  Athenian  fleets 
ravaged  the  coasts  of  the  Peloponnesus  and  inflicted  what 
damage  they  could  on  Sparta  and  her  allies. 

The  death  of  Pericles  was  a  great  loss  to  Athens.  No  real 
statesman  rose  to  take  his  place,  and  the  democracy,  growing 
constantly  more  selfish  and  passionate,  began  to  listen  with 
more  favor  to  the  demagogues  who  flattered  its  prejudices 
but  could  not  lead  in  the  adoption  of  any  far-sighted  policy. 

28.  The  Close  of  the  First  Period.  —  In  the  seventh  year 
of  the  war,  the  Athenians  gained  a  decided  advantage. 
Pylus,  a  point  on  the  north  side  of  the  bay  now  called  Nav- 

34 


GO         5« 

0  f  o     ^& 


§29] 


The  Sicilian  Expedition 


35 


arino,  was  seized  and  fortified.  A  force  of  Spartans,  who 
had  landed  on  the  island  which  closes  the  mouth  of  the 
bay,  were  then  first  blockaded,  and  finally  defeated  and 
forced  to  surrender.  This  act,  so  contrary  to  the  Spartan 
reputation,  made  a  profound  impression  throughout  Greece. 

Athens  could  now  have  made  peace  on  very  favorable 
conditions  had  she  been  willing.  It  was  a  serious  mistake 
that  she  did  not  do  so.  She  was  defeated  the  next  year  in 
the  great  battle  of  Delium  in  Boeotia,  and  rebellion,  sup- 
ported by  the  Spartans,  destroyed  her  empire  in  Thrace. 
Then  she  was  ready  to  end  the  war.  In  the  spring  of  421, 
the  Peace  of  Nicias  was  concluded  for  fifty  years.  By  its 
terms  conquests  were  to  be  restored  by  both  sides,  as  if 
things  could  be  put  where  they  were  before  the  war. 

29.  The  Sicilian  Expedition.  —  As  this  peace  settled 
nothing,  it  was  not  likely  to  last  out  its  fifty  years.  The 
second  period  of  the  war  was  not,  however,  in  form  a  war 
between  Athens  and  Sparta.  Alcibiades,  a  young  man  of  all 
brilliant  and  popular  gifts  but  without  character  and  of 
boundless  ambition,  persuaded  the  Athenians  to  send  an 
expedition  to  Sicily  at  the  invitation  of  the  Egestseans.  It 
was  an  attractive  plan.  A  successful  struggle  with  Syracuse, 
a  Dorian  colony  and  the  ruling  city  of  Sicily,  would  give  the 
Athenians  as  rich  an  empire  in  the  west  as  they  had  in  the 
east,  and  make  them  masters  of  the  whole  Mediterranean 
Sea. 

It  was  determined  to  send  a  great  fleet  and  army,  with 
Alcibiades  as  one  of  the  commanders.  He  was  not  destined, 
however,  to  reach  Sicily.  While  yet  on  the  way,  he  was 
summoned  home  to  stand  trial  for  acts  of  impiety  and  sacri- 
lege with  which  he  was  charged.  He  managed  to  escape, 
and  for  many  years  rendered  valuable  services  to  the  ene- 
mies of  Athens. 

Whether  or  not  the  expedition  would  have  been  successful 
if  he  had  continued  in  command,  cannot  be  said,  but  cer- 
tainly it  owed  much  of  its  failure  to  bad  generalship.  At  first 
the  Syracusans  despaired  of  successful  resistance.     But  the 


Athens' 
mistake. 


Peace  of 
Nicias, 
421  B.C. 


Alcibiades. 


The  expedi- 
tion to 

Syracuse, 
415  B.C. 

Holm,  II. 

Chap. 

XXVII., 

Freeman, 

Sicily, 

Chap.  VI II. 

(Nations). 

The  loss  of 
the  Athenian 
fleets  and 
armies. 
Thucydides, 
VII.  44-87. 


36      The  Peloponnesian  War  and  its  Results   [§§  3°>  31 


Athens  near 
to  ruin,  but 
full  of 
courage. 


Church, 
Callias:  A 
Tale  of  the 
Fall  of 
Athens 
(Novel). 
The  plots  of 
Alcibiades. 


He  joins  the 
Athenian 
fleet, 
411  B.C. 

The  Athe- 
nians vote  to 
break  their 
own  laws. 


Curtius,  Vol. 
1 1 1.,  pp.  537- 
545- 


siege  was  pushed  with  little  energy.  Through  an  incomplete 
and  unguarded  part  of  the  siege  lines,  a  Spartan  force  made 
its  way  into  the  city.  From  this  time  the  tide  ran  steadily 
against  the  Athenians,  and,  though  they  sent  another  great 
expedition,  staking  almost  their  whole  resources  on  the 
issue,  in  the  end  their  splendid  fleets  and  armies  were 
totally  destroyed,  only  a  few  stragglers  from  them  all  ever 
returning  to  Athens. 

30.  The  Last  Period  of  the  War,  413-404  B.C.  —  In  the 
third  period  of  the  war,  the  ruin  of  Athens  seemed  always 
near  at  hand.  The  Spartans  pushed  the  war  with  great 
vigor.  Under  the  advice  of  Alcibiades,  they  took  up  a  per- 
manent station  in  Attica.  The  allies  of  Athens  began  to 
revolt.  The  Persians  sent  their  assistance  to  the  Spartans. 
But  still  against  such  odds  Athens  showed  a  most  deter- 
mined spirit  and  surprising  resources.  She  soon  had  a 
large  fleet  on  the  sea,  and  made  it  evident  that  she  could 
yet  hold  her  own  with  Sparta. 

After  a  time  Alcibiades,  who  had  been  obliged  to  flee 
from  Sparta,  persuaded  the  Persians  to  adopt  a  neutral 
policy,  and  began  to  make  plans  to  get  recalled  to  Athens. 
One  result  of  his  plots  was  an  aristocratic  revolution  in  the 
city  by  which  the  oligarchy  of  the  Four  Hundred  was  es- 
tablished in  power,  but  the  fleet  refused  to  recognize  them, 
and  they  ruled  for  only  four  months.  The  fleet,  however, 
took  the  responsibility  of  recalling  Alcibiades,  and  for  three 
years  the  Athenians  were  almost  constantly  successful. 

31.  Declining  Respect  for  Law  in  Athens.  — An  incident 
of  the  year  406  shows  how  thoroughly  the  Athenians  had 
learned  from  the  demagogues  ideas  which  are  the  destruc- 
tion of  all  self-government.  At  the  battle  of  Arginusae  little 
effort  seems  to  have  been  made  by  the  commanders  to 
rescue  from  the  disabled  vessels  the  survivors  or  to  secure 
the  bodies  of  the  dead  for  burial.  This  excited  the  anger 
of  the  people  at  home,  and  in  a  moment  of  passion  they 
condemned  all  these  officers,  six  in  number,  to  death  at  a 
single  vote.     It  was  contrary  to  a  fundamental  law  of  the 


38      The  Pelopomiesian  War  and  its  Results    [§§  32>  33 


The  last 
Athenian 
fleet 

destroyed, 
405  B.C. 


The  walls  of 
Athens 
destroyed, 
404  B.C. 


Spartan  rule 
was  severe. 


Sankey,  The 
Spartan  and 

Theban 
Supremacies 
(Epochs). 
Character  of 
the  next  age. 


The  Spartans 

establish 

oligarchies. 


state  to  condemn  more  than  one  man  in  a  single  vote,  but 
they  brushed  aside  the  protest  of  Socrates  and  others  on  the 
principle  that  the  people  made  the  law  and  they  have  the 
right  to  violate  it  if  they  choose. 

32.  Fall  of  Athens.  —  The  next  year  the  whole  Athenian 
fleet,  collected  in  the  Hellespont,  was  surprised  by  the 
Spartans  while  in  a  defenceless  condition,  and  of  180  ships 
only  about  a  dozen  escaped.  This  meant  the  fall  of  Athens. 
She  could  build  no  more  fleets,  and  she  could  soon  be  starved 
into  surrender  when  the  importation  of  grain  was  cut  off. 
Slowly  the  Spartan  fleet  drew  near,  taking  possession  on  the 
way  of  the  islands  allied  with  Athens.  There  was  no  need 
of  haste.  The  resources  of  Athens  were  exhausted.  She 
stood  as  long  a  siege  as  possible,  but  famine  compelled  her 
to  yield. 

The  long  walls  and  the  fortifications  of  the  Peiraeus  were 
destroyed  to  the  flute  playing  and  dancing  of  the  Greeks, 
foolishly  rejoicing  at  the  overthrow  of  the  only  state  which, 
had  she  remained  powerful,  could  have  saved  Greece  from 
her  later  misfortunes.  The  fall  of  Athens  was  really  due, 
however,  to  her  own  lack  of  political  skill  and  self-control ; 
for  she  shared,  though  to  a  somewhat  less  degree  than 
others,  these  fatal  defects  of  the  Greek  race. 

33.  The  Supremacy  of  Sparta.  —  The  Peloponnesian  War 
left  Sparta  supreme.  Her  hand  was  found,  however,  far 
heavier  than  that  of  Athens,  and  she  proved  even  less  capa- 
ble of  moulding  the  Greeks  into  a  common  nationality.  The 
sixty  years  which  passed  before  Macedonia  became  supreme 
were  years  of  civil  strifes,  revolutions,  and  petty  intrigues, 
and  of  a  declining  civilization.  The  brilliant  days  of  Greek 
independent  life  were  over ;  the  days  were  coming  on  when 
Greek  civilization  was  to  be  carried  over  the  whole  Eastern 
world,  but  only  by  a  half-barbarian  despot  who  forced  the 
Greeks  to  that  unity  and  foreign  dominion  which  they  could 
not  acquire  themselves. 

True  to  their  own  ideas,  the  Spartans  established  oli- 
garchies wherever  they  came.     In  Athens  the  "  Thirty  "  over- 


§§  34,  35] 


A  New  Persian   War 


39 


threw  the  constitution  and  held  power  through  a  few  months' 
reign  of  terror  and  blood,  when  the  democracy  was  reestab- 
lished by  a  successful  revolution.  But  one  of  the  first  acts 
of  the  restored  sovereign  people  was  to  put  to  death  the 
philosopher  Socrates 
in  a  moment  of  mob 
passion,  bitterly  re- 
gretted afterwards. 

34.  The  Invasion  of 
Persia  by  Cyrus  the 
Younger.  —  Meantime 
the  Greeks  had  learned, 
through  the  expedition 
of  Cyrus  the  Younger, 
the  great  superiority  of 
their  troops  to  the  enor- 
mous armies  of  Persia. 
Cyrus  had  attempted 
by  the  aid  of  a  few 
thousand  Greeks  to 
overthrow  his  brother, 
Artaxerxes,  and  make 
himself  king  of  Persia. 
His  little  force  defeated 
the  great  Persian  army, 
but  Cyrus  was  killed. 
The  story  of  the  march 
of  the  Greeks  and  of 

the  retreat  through  Armenia  to  the  Black  Sea  is  told  by 
Xenophon,  an  Athenian  in  the  army,  in  one  of  the  most 
interesting  of  Greek  books,  the  Anabasis. 

35.  A  New  Persian  War.  —  Sparta  was  the  first  to  attempt 
to  profit  by  this  lesson.  She  determined  to  make  war  on 
the  hereditary  enemies  of  the  Greeks,  hoping  perhaps  to 
regain  something  of  the  popularity  she  was  conscious  of 
losing  through  the  harshness  of  her  government.  Some 
successes  were  gained  at  first,  but  Persia  intrigued  in  Greece 


Plato 


Holm,  II., 
Chap.  XXX. 

The  death  of 
Socrates, 
399  B.C. 


The  expe- 
dition of 
Cyrus  the 
Younger, 
401  B.C. 
Holm,  III. 
Chap.  I. 


The  battle 
and  the  death 
of  Cyrus, 
Xenophon's 
Anabasis,  I. 


Sparta 
attacks 
Persia, 
399  B.C. 


40     The  Peloponnesian  War  and  its  Results  [§  36 


Rebellions  in 
Greece. 


The  war  goes 

against 

Sparta. 


Peace  at  the 
dictation  of 
Persia, 
387  B.C. 


The  fall  of 
Spartan 
power, 
Holm,  III. 
93-127- 


The  death  of 
Epaminon- 
das,  362  B.C. 


to  arouse  the  enemies  of  Sparta  against  her.  Thebes  first 
took  arms,  and  was  soon  joined  by  Athens,  and  even  by 
Corinth  and  Argos,  so  long  allies  of  Sparta. 

In  the  war  which  followed,  neither  side  gained  any 
decided  advantage,  but  the  balance  fell  on  the  whole  against 
Sparta,  in  spite  of  the  determined  efforts  of  her  lame  king 
Agesilaus.  The  Thebans  learned  the  advantage  in  war  of 
careful  drilling  and  skilful  tactics,  and  their  ambition  was 
awakened  to  succeed  Sparta  as  the  ruling  state  of  Greece. 
Athens  regained  much  that  she  had  lost.  Her  long  walls 
were  rebuilt,  a  new  fleet  was  formed,  and  the  beginning  made 
of  a  new  Athenian  empire  in  the  north  of  the  ^£gean. 

36.  The  Decline  of  Sparta.  —  At  last  Sparta  and  Persia 
became  tired  of  the  war  and  joined  to  force  peace  on  the 
other  states,  so  that  the  Greeks  endured  the  disgrace  of  a 
peace  dictated  by  Persia, — the  Peace  of  Antalcidas,  —  which 
left  Asia  Minor  to  the  Persians,  and  the  states  of  Greece 
independent. 

Sustained  by  the  old  enemies  of  the  Greeks,  the  Persians, 
the  rule  of  the  Spartans  was  worse  than  before.  Especially 
was  the  indignation  of  Greece  excited  by  her  seizure  of  the 
citadel  of  Thebes  by  taking  advantage  of  a  religious  festival. 
Soon  the  war  broke  out  again,  and  it  was  now  characterized  by 
the  rapid  rise  of  Thebes.  Epaminondas,  the  greatest  of  the 
Thebans,  gained  the  great  victory  of  Leuctra,  invaded  the 
Peloponnesus,  set  free  Arcadia  and  Messenia  from  Spartan 
rule,  and  defeated  the  Spartans  in  another  great  battle,  Man- 
tinea,  in  which  he  was  himself  killed.  His  death  prevented 
the  further  success  of  the  Thebans,  but  Sparta  had  been 
ruined,  and  she  never  recovered  her  power  even  in  the 
Peloponnesus. 


Topics 

The  real  origin  of  the  Peloponnesian  War.  What  incidents  led  to 
its  beginning?  The  character  of  the  first  period.  Athens'  first  ad- 
vantage. The  peace  of  Nicias.  What  led  the  Athenians  to  attack 
Syracuse?  The  result.  Alcibiades  in  the  last  period  of  the  war.  The 
illegal   punishment  of  their  officers   by  the  Athenians.     The  fall  of 


36] 


The  Decline  of  Sparta 


41 


Athens.  The  character  of  Spartan  rule.  The  death  of  Socrates. 
The  expedition  of  Cyrus.  Greece  makes  war  on  Persia.  Civil  war  in 
Greece.     Peace  at  Persian  dictation.     The  fall  of  Spartan  power. 

Topics  for  Assigned  Studies 

The  character  of  Alcibiades.  Thucydides,  VI.  15-18.  Xenophon's 
Memorabilia,  I.  2,  12-28.  Plutarch's  Life  of  Alcibiades.  Grote, 
Vol.  VII.,  Chap.  LV.     Curtius,  III.  297-334. 

The  condemnation  of  Socrates.  Plato's  Apology.  Xenophon's  Mem- 
orabilia, I.,  1  and  2;  IV.,  8.  Curtius,  IV.,  148-164.  Extract 
from  the  Apology  in  Indiana,  No.  IV. 


Pediment— Temple  of  Minerva,  ^Egina 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE    RISE    OF    MACEDONIA    AND    THE    CONQUESTS    OF 
ALEXANDER 


Macedonia 
succeeds  to 
the  task  in 
which  the 
other  states 
had  failed. 

Curteis,  The 

Macedonian 

Umpire 

(Epochs). 


The  training 
of  Philip  for 
his  work. 


359  B.C. 

He  first 
advances 
into  Thrace. 


37.  The  Rise  of  Macedonia.  —  The  rapid  decline  of 
Thebes,  after  the  death  of  Epaminondas,  left  the  way  open 
for  a  new  power  to  assume  the  headship  of  the  Greeks. 
Athens,  Sparta,  and  Thebes,  each  in  turn,  had  failed  to  make 
a  Greek  nation,  or  even  to  unite  the  race  in  a  common 
policy.  The  task  in  which  they  had  failed  was  performed 
by  a  state  which  they  would  hardly  recognize  as  Greek.  Its 
government  was  that  of  a  strong  monarchy,  and  its  success 
was  partly  due  to  its  centralization,  but  chiefly  to  the  ex- 
traordinary ability  of  two  kings,  whose  united  reigns  covered 
only  a  single  generation,  —  Philip  and  Alexander  of  Macedon. 

Macedonia  lay  in  the  very  north  of  Greece,  occupying 
the  territory  inland  around  the  northwestern  corner  of  the 
^Egean  Sea.  The  work  of  Philip  was  to  extend  its  power  to 
the  south,  over  the  whole  of  Greece.  His  early  experiences 
had  trained  him  for  success.  A  hostage  in  Thebes  during 
the  life  of  Epaminondas,  he  had  observed  the  divided  and 
incapable  policy  of  the  Greek  states,  and  learned  the 
immense  value  of  disciplined  troops  in  war.  Returning  to 
Macedonia  while  still  young,  he  gained  the  throne  in  spite 
of  numerous  rivals,  formed  a  powerful  army,  subdued  the 
barbarian  tribes  of  the  frontier,  and  consolidated  his  king- 
dom. In  a  single  year  after  his  accession  he  was  ready  to 
begin  the  extension  of  his  power  over  the  Greeks. 

38.  Philip's  First  Steps. —  His  first  step  was  to  get  control 
of  the  cities  of  the  northwestern  coast  of  the  ^Egean,  and 

42 


39>  40] 


Philip  conquers  Greece 


43 


of  the  valuable  mines  of  Thrace.  Here  he  came  into  col- 
lision with  Athens,  and  with  the  Olynthian  Confederacy,  a 
union  of  the  local  cities.  By  diplomacy,  as  unscrupulous  as 
it  was  successful,  he  outwitted  both  his  rivals,  and  secured 
the  control  he  desired.  Athens  was  at  the  same  time 
weakened  by  the  Social  War,  a  revolt  of  her  allies,  whom  she 
had  not  yet  learned  to  treat  with  generosity. 

The  footing  thus  obtained  upon  the  coast  Philip  after- 
wards extended  to  the  complete  conquest  of  the  region  by 
the  capture  of  Olynthus,  despite  the  earnest  efforts  of 
Demosthenes,  who  exerted  all  his  eloquence  to  persuade  the 
Athenians  to  oppose  the  plans  of  Philip  with  all  their  might. 
In  the  meantime,  civil  strife  in  Thessaly  gave  him  an  oppor- 
tunity to  interfere  there,  and  finally  to  extend  his  influence 
into  Greece. 

39.  The  Sacred  Wars.  —  The  central  Greek  states  were 
at  the  time  engaged  in  the  first  of  the  three  Sacred  wars. 
The  Phocians,  in  whose  territory  was  situated  the  celebrated 
shrine  of  Apollo  at  Delphi,  had  put  into  cultivation  some 
land  belonging  to  the  temple,  contrary,  the  other  Greeks 
said,  to  the  law.  The  Amphictyonic  Council,  a  kind  of 
federal  council  having  a  guardianship  of  the  Delphic  temple, 
tried  to  make  them  pay  a  fine.  This  the  Phocians  refused 
to  do.  They  seized  Delphi  instead,  boldly  converted  the 
treasures  of  the  temple  to  their  own  use,  and  with  the 
forces  they  were  thus  able  to  hire,  swept  all  before  them  in 
central  Greece.  Philip  interfered  as  champion  of  the  vio- 
lated temple,  at  first  because  the  Phocians  opposed  his 
policy  in  Thessaly,  and  afterwards  at  the  invitation  of  the 
Thebans  and  of  the  Amphictyonic  Council. 

40.  Philip  conquers  Greece.  —  In  the  third  war,  fifteen 
years  after  his  first  interference  in  central  Greece,  he  sud- 
denly revealed  his  true  purpose  by  advancing  to  the  borders 
of  Bceotia  and  seizing  a  post  which  commanded  at  once  the 
road  to  Athens  and  to  Thebes.  The  Athenians  were  now 
convinced,  and  were  forced  to  lay  aside  their  hostility  to 
Thebes,  and  to  unite  with  her  in  resisting  Philip.     In  the 


The  con- 
quest of 
Olynthus, 
348  B.C. 

Demos- 
thenes. 
Brodribb, 
Demosthenes 
(Ancient 
Classics 
Series)  ; 
Butcher, 
Demosthenes 
(Ancient 
Classical 
Writers 
Series)  ; 
Sources  in 
Indiana, 
Nos.  2  and  3. 
The  Sacred 
War  gives 
Philip  his 
opportunity. 


Athens  and 

Thebes 

defeated. 


44 


The  Rise  of  Macedonia 


41,4a 


338  B.C. 


Greece 
submits  to 
Philip. 


A  war  of 
Greece 
against 
Persia. 
The  acces- 
sion of 
Alexander, 
336  B.C. 
Plutarch, 
Life  of 
Alexander ; 
T.  A.  Dodge, 
Alexander 
(Military 
History, 
Houghton). 
The  destruc- 
tion of 
Thebes, 
335  B.C. 


great  battle  of  Chaeronea  the  Macedonian  army  was  com- 
pletely victorious.  The  Theban  sacred  band  was  slain  to  a 
man,  and  the  Athenian  army  dispersed. 

This  was  the  end  of  Greek  independence.  A  Macedonian 
garrison  occupied  Thebes.  Athens  was  treated  more  gen- 
erously, but  she  was  forced  to  acknowledge  Philip  as  the 

head  of  Greece.  The  same 
year  a  congress  of  the  Greek 
states  was  held  at  Corinth, 
which  formed  them  all  into 
an  organized  union  with  local 
independence,  but  with  their 
general  policy  and  their  mili- 
tary force  under  the  control 
of  Philip.  A  common  war 
against  Persia  was  resolved 
upon,  which  Philip  was  to 
fc^  ffjjJSF^y        conduct.     But  before  he  could 

■\f_-  begin  the  war,  Philip  was  mur- 

dered by  a  private  enemy. 

41.  Alexander  takes  up  the 
Plans  of  Philip.  —  The  war  of 
vengeance  against  Persia,  or 
of  ambition  and  expansion  for  Greece,  which  Cyrus  had 
foreshadowed  and  Philip  had  planned,  was  undertaken  and 
completed  by  Alexander.  He  was  only  twenty  years  of  age 
at  his  father's  death,  but  he  was  equal  to  the  place. 

The  first  movement  for  independence  at  Athens  and 
Thebes  on  the  news  of  Philip's  death,  he  quickly  repressed, 
and  when  the  Thebans  took  advantage  of  his  absence  in  the 
Danube  region  to  revolt,  he  surprised  them  by  his  sud- 
den return,  stormed  the  city,  and  razed  it  to  the  ground. 
Another  congress  completed  the  arrangements  for  the 
Persian  war,  and  in  334  Alexander  was  ready  to  set  out. 

42.  The  First  Successes  of  Alexander.  —  Xerxes  invaded 
Greece  with  an  army  which  was  said  to  contain  millions 
of   men.      Alexander    began    the   conquest   of  Asia  with 


Aristotle 


§  43]  The  Conquest  of  Asia  45 

30,000  infantry  and  5000  cavalry.     These  were,  however,   The  invasion 
thoroughly  disciplined  Greek  soldiers.     He  found  the  Hel-   of  Asia> 
lespont  unguarded,  but  was  opposed  by  an  army  a  little  32°_36I; 
further  on,  at  the  passage  of  the  Granicus  River.     This   Translation 
he  dispersed  in  a  battle  in  which  he  fought  in  person  with   °f  Arnan  in 
most  reckless   bravery.      The  victory  opened  to  him  the   on  Alex- 
possession  of  Asia  Minor.     He  passed  successfully  through  ander's 
the  mountains,  and  found  Darius  and  a  great  army  ready  to   m^°gS  of 
dispute  his  further  advance  at  Issus,  near  the  northeastern   Fling, 
corner  of  the  Mediterranean.     Alexander's  victory  was  com-   studies, 
plete.     The  Persian  army  was  scattered.     Darius  himself   Aie'xtnder's 
barely  escaped,  while  a  part   of   his  family  was  captured  first  great 
together  with  a  large  treasure.  victory, 

Alexander  then  turned  towards  Egypt.     All  the  country  ^3 
through  which  he  passed  submitted  at  once,  but  the  great  south# 
city  of   Tyre,    deeming   itself   impregnable,    refused    him 
admittance   within   its    gates.      Alexander   determined    to 
punish  the  presumption  of  the  Tyrians,  and  though  he  was 
occupied  nearly  seven  months  with  the  building  of  a  mole 
to  enable  the  army  to  reach  their  walls,  the  city  was  finally 
stormed.     Egypt  had  no  love  for  her  Persian  master,  and   Egypt 
welcomed  Alexander  as  a  deliverer.      Here   he  remained  submits- 
during  the  winter,  founding  the  first  and  greatest  of  many 
Alexandrias,  and  visiting  the  shrine  of  Jupiter  Ammon  in  the 
desert  to  get  authoritative  evidence  of  his  descent  from  the 
gods. 

43.  The  Conquest  of  Asia.  —  In  the  spring  of  331,  he  Persia  con- 
returned  to  the  direct  attack  upon  Darius.  He  reached  quered> 
him  in  September,  totally  destroyed  his  army  in  the  battle 
of  Arbela  near  the  Tigris  River,  captured  in  rapid  succession 
the  Persian  capitals,  Babylon,  Susa,  Persepolis,  and  Ecba- 
tana,  making  himself  master  of  immense  treasures  stored 
in  them,  and  continued  on  rapidly  in  pursuit  of  Darius  to 
the  southern  end  of  the  Caspian  Sea.  His  hope  to  take  the 
king  alive,  however,  was  frustrated  by  the  murder  of  Darius 
by  one  of  the  king's  own  officers. 

From  this  point  Alexander  continued  his  march  to  the 


46 


The  Rise  of  Macedonia 


44,45 


Alexander's 
empire  in 
central  Asia. 


Death  of 
Alexander, 
323  B.C. 

His  empire 
short  lived. 


A  common 
Greek  civili- 
zation 
throughout 
the  Eastern 
world. 


Rome 
brought 
under  its 
influence. 


east,  and  spent  three  years  in  subduing  central  Asia,  going 
as  far  as  the  river  Jaxartes,  conquering  also  Afghanistan  and 
the  right  bank  of  the  Indus  to  its  mouth.  He  might,  per- 
haps, have  overcome  even  central  India,  but  he  was  com- 
pelled to  turn  back  by  the  refusal  of  his  soldiers  to  follow 
him  further.  The  army  returned  to  Babylon  along  the 
southern  coast  of  Asia,  while  a  fleet  accompanied  them 
by  sea.  At  Babylon,  Alexander  began  extensive  prepara- 
tions for  new  conquests,  but  in  June,  323,  he  died,  not  yet 
thirty-three  years  old. 

44.  The  Fate  of  Alexander's  Empire. — The  conquests 
of  Alexander  fell  apart  soon  after  his  death.  Very  likely 
he  would  himself  have  failed  to  hold  them  together,  though 
it  was  not  an  unwise  policy,  if  it  may  be  called  a  policy, 
which  led  him  to  transform  himself  into  a  monarch  of  the 
Oriental  type,  and  which  sought  to  unite  in  interest  the  con- 
quering Greek  with  the  conquered  Persian. 

45.  Influence  on  Civilization.  —  But  whether  or  not  Alex- 
ander's empire  could  have  been  permanent  as  a  political 
unity,  it  did  establish  a  cosmopolitan  civilization  which  was 
as  long  lived  as  anything  has  yet  been  in  history.  Through- 
out all  the  western  Orient  there  came  to  be  a  common 
language  and  literature,  and  a  common  body  of  philosophy, 
art,  and  science,  and  to  a  somewhat  less  extent  the  same 
thing  was  true  of  central  Asia.  The  conquests  of  Greek 
civilization  were  even  wider  than  those  of  Alexander's 
armies.  Greek  thought  and  art  long  influenced  India, 
were  cherished  for  centuries  in  Afghanistan,  and  can  even 
be  traced  in  the  farthest  East,  in  China  and  Japan. 

When  Roman  armies  conquered  the  larger  part  of  the  em- 
pire of  Alexander,  they  were  not  able  to  conquer  the  civiliza- 
tion or  to  Romanize  the  people.  They  were  themselves 
rather  brought  under  Greek  influence.  Because  of  the  posi- 
tion which  Alexander  had  given  to  the  intellectual  work  of 
Greece  throughout  the  East,  she  was  able  to  rule  a  still  greater 
empire  through  the  Romans,  and  finally,  to  extend  her  sway 
over  the  Teutonic  conquerors  of  Rome  and  on  to  us. 


48 


The  Rise  of  Macedonia 


[§46 


Alexander 
gave  per- 
manence to 
the  work  of 
Greece. 


The  Greek 
states  which 
succeeded 
Alexander. 
Mahaffy, 
The 

Empire  of 
the  Mo  It- mics 
(Macmillan). 


In  Greece 
itself. 


The  Achsean 
League. 
Fling, 
Studies, 
No.  5. 


Commercial 
interests. 
Mahaffy, 
Greek  Life 
and  Thought, 
PP-  330-356. 


The  compulsory  union  of  the  petty  Greek  states,  at  a 
slight  cost  to  their  independence,  gave  to  Greek  thought 
and  ideals  a  permanent  hold  upon  the  world,  and  made 
them  the  common  possession  of  all  men.  There  soon  be- 
gan also  a  new  age  of  intellectual  activity,  which  may  be 
typified  by  the  science  and  philosophy,  the  schools  and 
libraries  of  Alexandria.  Alexander  may  have  been  himself 
a  mere  conqueror  of  the  crudest  type,  but  the  Greeks  and 
all  later  generations  owe  him  a  large  debt  of  gratitude. 

46.  The  Greek  World  between  Alexander  and  the  Roman 
Conquest.  —  The  succession  to  his  empire  was  left  unset- 
tled at  the  death  of  Alexander.  There  was  no  member  of 
his  own  family  influential  enough  to  secure  its  interests. 
His  son,  born  soon  after  his  death,  was  speedily  sacrificed 
to  the  rivalries  of  his  generals,  and,  after  twenty  years  of 
civil  strife,  three  states  emerge  which  survive  until  the  Roman 
conquest,  and  are  of  special  interest  to  us.  These  are 
Macedonia,  whose  government  was  subject  to  many  revo- 
lutions ;  Syria  and  the  Euphrates  valley  under  the  Seleuci- 
dae ;  and  Egypt  under  the  Ptolemies.  The  farther  Mast 
broke  up  into  several  states,  some  of  which  lasted  a  long 
time.  Rather  the  most  important  of  these  was  the  king- 
dom of  the  Parthians  in  Persia. 

In  Greece  proper,  many  of  the  states  maintained  a  kind 
of  precarious  independence,  protected  from  one  another  by 
the  interference  of  Macedonia.  Besides  the  single  states 
there  was  a  most  interesting  federal  union  of  the  Achaean 
cities,  for  mutual  protection  and  the  conduct  of  common 
affairs,  which  lasted  until  the  coming  of  the  Romans.  The 
naval  and  commercial  power  which  had  once  belonged  to 
Athens  passed  to  Rhodes,  which  long  maintained  a  leader- 
ship in  an  age  of  much  wider  commercial  relations  than 
earlier  Greece  had  known.  The  rich  goods  of  India 
reached  the  Mediterranean  through  the  Red  Sea  and  Alex- 
andria, or  by  caravan  routes  to  Antioch.  Even  China  at 
one  time  had  a  direct  connection  with  the  Greek  world  of 
this  age  through  the  Black  Sea.     As  compared  with  the 


§  47]  The  Age  Intellectually  49 

pre-Macedonian  period  this  was  a  time  of  great  luxury  and 
wealth. 

47.    The  Age  Intellectually.  —  The  conquests  of  Alexan- 
der were  followed  by  a  brilliant  literary  age,  most  of  whose 
productions  have   been   lost,  and  by  an  age  of  art,  whose  Art  and 
products,  as  they  have  come  down  to  us,  —  the  Venus  of    Hoim°ivy* 
Milo,  the  Apollo  Belvidere,  the  Dying  Gladiator,  and  others,   chap.xiv. 


Temple  at  Edfu,  Time  of  the  Ptolemies 

—  the  world  still  admires  as  among  the  most  beautiful  speci- 
mens of  Greek  art.  In  philosophy,  the  Epicurean  and  the 
Stoic  systems  were  developed,  both  as  speculative  philoso- 
phy and  as  practical  ethics,  the  one,  in  its  ideal  form,  find- 
ing the  highest  good  in  a  noble  and  high-minded  enjoyment 
of  life,  the  other,  in  the  strong  control  of  all  desires  and 
the  manly  endurance  of  all  evils.  Alexandria 

J  .  as  an  lntel- 

This  later  Greek  world  had  at  different  times  three  intel-   ieciuai 
lectual  capitals,  Athens,  Alexandria,  and  Antioch.     Alexan-   capital. 

E 


50 


The  Rise  of  Macedonia 


[§48 


dria  remains  to  modern  times  the  most  typical  of  the  age. 
The  Ptolemies  collected  there  a  great  library,  and  endowed 
a  university,  the  Museum,  to  which  they  attracted  as  many 
as  possible  of  the  learned  men  of  the  day.  In  the  creation 
of  new  literature,  the  results  were  not  so  great  as  in  com- 
ment on  the  old  and 
in  the  study  of  phil- 
osophy and  the  phys- 
ical sciences.  The 
city  became  the 
meeting  point  of  all 
forms  of  thought 
from  every  source, 
and  exerted  an  es- 
pecial influence  upon 
the  future  in  the 
union  effected  there 
between  Greek  and 
Semitic  ideas.  One 
product  of  this  was 
the  translation  of 
the  Old  Testament 
into  Greek  which 
we  call  the  Sep- 
tuagint. 
48.  Condition  at 
the  Roman  Con- 
quest. —  This  was 
the  Greek  world  as 
it  was  when  it  was 
conquered  by  the  Romans.  The  empire  of  Alexander  had 
fallen  apart  into  a  number  of  independent  states,  but  they 
were  closely  held  together  by  common  interests,  and  formed 
a  virtual  federation  or  world  system  as  intimate  as  modern 
Europe.  They  created  a  considerable  body  of  international 
law,  and  paid  much  attention  to  the  balance  of  power.  This 
close  connection  on  the  political  side  was  made  a  real  soli- 


Mask  of  the  Otricoli  Zeus,  Naples 


§  48]  Condition  at  the  Roman  Conquest  5 1 

darity  by  a  uniform  civilization.     Language,  literature,  art, 
and  philosophy  were  one  throughout  all  the  East. 

Topics 

The  situation  and  government  of  Macedonia.  Philip's  education. 
His  first  successes.  Opposition  of  Demosthenes.  The  Sacred  wars. 
The  battle  of  Chaeronea.  Philip's  plan  of  a  war  against  Persia.  The 
first  two  years  of  Alexander's  reign.  His  first  battles  with  the  Persians. 
Trace  Alexander's  march  from  Asia  Minor  to  the  Tigris.  Why  did  he 
not  advance  directly  against  Darius?  Trace  the  march  of  Alexander 
east  of  the  Tigris.  What  parts  of  his  empire  now  belong  to  Russia? 
What  to  England?  The  influence  of  Alexander's  conquests  upon  the 
later  history  of  the  world.  The  states  which  succeeded  Alexander. 
Art  and  philosophy  in  this  age.  Alexandria  as  the  intellectual  capital 
of  the  world. 

Topics  for  Assigned  Studies 

The  policy  of  Demosthenes.  The  Orations  on  the  Crown.  Plutarch's 
Life  of  Demosthenes.  Grote,  XL,  Chap.  LXXXVII.  Curtius, 
V.  467-482.  Mahaffy,  Problems  in  Greek  History,  Chap.  VII. 
Holm,  III.  235-280. 

The  effects  of  Alexander's  conquests.  Mahaffy,  Greek  Life  and  Thought 
from  Alexander  to  the  Roman  Conquest.  Holm,  Vol.  III.,  Chap. 
XXVII.  An  article,  Greek  Civilization  in  the  East,  in  London 
Quarterly  Review,  Vol.  149,  or  Littell's  Living  Age,  Vol.  144. 


Important  Dates  for  Review 

•C  594 Legislation  of  Solon. 

490 Battle  of  Marathon. 

480 Battles  of  Thermopylae  and  Salamis. 

478-470      .     .     .  The  Athenian  empire  founded. 

445-431       .     .     .  The  age  of  Pericles. 

431-404      .     .     .  The  Peloponnesian  War. 

399 The  execution  of  Socrates. 

371-361       .     .     .  Supremacy  of  Thebes. 

359 Philip,  king  of  Macedonia. 

336 Alexander,  king  of  Macedonia. 

323 Death  of  Alexander. 

146 Greece  under  Roman  rule. 


PART    III 

THE  RISE   OF  THE  ROMANS 

Books  for  Reference  and  Further  Reading 

Mommsen,  History  of  Rome.     5  vols.     (Scribner;   $10.00.)     Very  in- 
teresting.    Full  on  the  constitutional  and  social  history. 

Mommsen.     Abridged  in  one  volume  by  Bryans  and  Hendy.     (Scrib- 
ner;  $1.75.) 

Ihne,   History  of  Rome.      5   vols.       (Longmans;     15    sh.   per   vol.) 
Carefully  critical,  especially  on  the  early  history. 

Merivale,    General  History   of  Rome.     I    vol.     (Longmans ;     $2.00. 
Harper;   $1.25.) 

How  and  Leigh,  History  of  Rome.     1  vol.     (Longmans;   $2.00.) 

The   best  one- volume  histories.      Merivale   goes  to  476  A.D.; 
How  and  Leigh  to  the  death  of  Caesar. 

Pelham,  Outlines  of  Roman  History,  to  476  A.D.     (Rivington;   6  sh.) 

Preston   and  Dodge,  Private  Life  of  the  Romans.     (Leach,  Boston, 
$1.25.) 

Cruttwell,  History  of  Roman  Literature.     (Scribner;   $2.50.) 

Mackail,  Latin  Literature.     (Scribner;  $1.25.) 

Roman  authors,  including  the  historians  of  this  period  and  of  the 
Empire,  are  to  be  found  in  translations  in  the  Bohn  Library  and  in 
Harper's  Classical  Library. 

Summary 

European  history  begun  by  Greece  was  carried  on  by  Rome. 
The  permanent  influence  of  the  Romans  on  the  world  was  far 
different,  however,  from  that  of  the  Greeks,  for  it  was  not  literary 
or  scientific,  but  political.  It  was  their  work  to  bring  together 
the  whole  civilized  world  into  one  great  state,  and  to  furnish  this 

53 


54        Beginnings  and  Constitutional  Changes 

state  with  laws  and  institutions  which  have  had  a  most  profound 
influence  on  all  later  times.  The  unity,  the  world-wide  civiliza- 
tion which  they  established,  is  also  the  great  underlying  fact  of 
all  later  history.  Never  since  it  was  first  made  has  it  ceased  to 
be.  The  beginning  of  this  empire  of  the  world  was  very 
gradual.  At  the  start  Rome  was  a  little  city-state  like  those  of 
Greece,  surrounded  by  others  like  herself.  The  first  step  must 
be  the  conquest  of  these  cities,  and  this  goes  on  for  a  long  time, 
partly  because  some  of  them  were  almost  a  match  for  Rome,  and 
partly  because  of  the  constant  civil  strife  going  on  in  the  city 
over  changes  in  the  constitution  which  were  by  degrees  allowing 
to  the  people  more  and  more  rights.  Hardly  had  Rome  come 
to  be  the  head  of  a  little  state  around  the  city  when  another  long 
struggle  began  with  the  Samnites,  who  ruled  another  state  of  the 
same  kind  to  the  south  of  the  Roman.  Before  this  obstinate 
struggle  was  over  it  involved  almost  all  Italy,  and  at  its  close 
brought  the  Romans  into  contact  with  the  Greek  colonies  of  the 
south.  They  appealed  to  Greece  for  aid,  and  Pyrrhus,  king  of 
Epirus,  came  to  their  protection.  His  armies  defeated  the 
Roman,  but  with  such  loss  that  he  had  to  abandon  Italy.  Su- 
preme in  Italy,  Rome  now  stood  face  to  face  with  the  only  great 
empire  of  the  West,  that  of  Carthage.  For  both,  the  measuring 
of  strength  was  a  necessity,  and  the  result  a  matter  of  life  or 
death.  The  issue  of  the  first  Punic  War  was  not  decisive,  though 
the  balance  of  gain  lay  with  Rome.  She  had  become  a  naval 
power,  had  driven  the  Carthaginians  from  Sicily,  which  became 
the  first  province,  and  had  forced  Carthage  to  pay  an  indemnity. 
In  the  interval  before  the  second  war  Rome  seized  Sardinia  and 
Corsica,  and  made  further  conquests  to  the  north,  while  Carthage, 
or  rather  the  family  of  Hannibal,  built  up  a  new  empire  in  Spain 
as  a  support  in  the  coming  final  struggle  with  Rome.  From 
Spain  in  the  second  war  Hannibal  led  an  army  into  Italy,  where 
at  first  he  gained  great  victories,  but  was  later  only  able  to  main- 
tain himself,  waiting  for  reinforcements  from  Spain  or  for  foreign 
interference.  The  reinforcements  under  his  brother  Hasdrubal 
were  cut  off,  and  the  attempted  interference  of  Macedonia  and 
of  Syracuse  availed  nothing.  Scipio  conquered  Spain  and  then 
carried  the  war  into  Africa.  Hannibal  was  recalled  to  defend 
Carthage,  but  was  defeated,  and  the  Carthaginians  had  to  accept 
the  terms  proposed  by  Rome.  To  complete  the  conquest  of  the 
world  there  now  remained  only  the  states  of  the  eastern  end  of 
the  Mediterranean,  formed  in  the  breaking  up  of  Alexander's 
empire.     These  were  capable  of  no  real  resistance.     Macedonia 


Summary  5  5 

was  soon  punished  for  her  attempt  to  aid  Carthage,  and  Greece 
became  a  virtual  Roman  province.  Antiochus,  king  of  Syria, 
tried  the  issue  of  war  but  was  overthrown.  Egypt  adopted  the 
wiser  policy  of  friendship  with  Rome,  and  became  a  willing 
vassal.  The  empire  of  the  world  was  united  under  the  Romans, 
but  in  the  meantime  a  great  change  had  taken  place  among  the 
conquerors  themselves.  Mankind  had  not  yet  found  out  that  a 
clean  civil  service  and  official  honesty  are  necessary  to  the  gov- 
ernment of  an  empire.  Rome  looked  upon  her  provinces  as 
spoils  won  in  war,  and  her  officers  thought  they  had  a  right  to 
enrich  themselves  in  their  offices.  Manners  and  morals  among 
the  Romans  became  rapidly  corrupted,  and  vast  wealth  easily 
won  pouring  into  the  city  completed  the  loss  of  character.  With 
the  age  of  the  Gracchi  there  opened  the  period  of  the  dema- 
gogues. The  people  were  taught  to  sell  their  votes,  not  for 
individual  bribes  but  for  valuable  gifts  to  the  masses  as  a  whole. 
They  were  taught  to  yield  to  the  passion  of  the  moment,  to  dis- 
regard the  laws  and  the  constitution  if  they  stood  in  the  way  of 
the  gratification  of  their  passion,  and  to  worship  the  hero  of  the 
hour  and  to  follow  his  lead  without  question.  All  this  was  prepa- 
ration for  the  absolute  rule  of  one  man,  and  it  quickly  came. 
Nearly  a  century  was  spent  in  civil  strife  or  actual  civil  war  be- 
fore the  Republic  finally  fell.  The  first  war  was  between  Marius 
and  Sulla,  during  which  Marius  ruled  the  city  like  a  tyrant  for  a 
little  time  while  Sulla  was  absent  in  the  east,  as  did  Sulla  for  a 
longer  period  after  his  return.  He  soon  voluntarily  surrendered 
his  power,  however,  and  left  the  way  open  for  a  new  civil  war 
between  Caesar  and  Pompey.  Caesar's  victory  virtually  brought 
the  republic  to  an  end,  though  after  his  murder  there  was  another 
civil  war  among  the  rivals  for  his  succession.  In  this  Caesar's 
nephew  Octavius  won,  and  became  the  first  Roman  emperor  of 
the  unbroken  series. 


56        Beginnings  and  Constitutional  Changes     [§  49 


An  Old  Roman  School 


CHAPTER   I 


BEGINNINGS  AND  CONSTITUTIONAL  CHANGES 


Rome  the 
successor  of 
Greece. 


Differences 
between  the 
Romans  and 
the  Greeks. 


49.  The  Relation  of  the  Romans  to  the  Greeks  in  History. 
—  During  the  later  ages  of  Greek  history  a  power  had  been 
growing  up  in  the  West  which  began  to  come  in  contact 
with  the  Greeks  in  many  ways  soon  after  the  death  of  Alex- 
ander, and  which  was  destined  to  absorb  into  its  empire  the 
world  civilization  which  he  had  founded,  and  to  be  the  suc- 
cessor of  Greece  in  history.     This  was  Rome. 

In  many  ways  the  Romans  were  like  the  Greeks,  as  we 
should  naturally  expect  since  they  were  a  closely  related 
Indo-European  race  ;  in  many  more,  they  were  unlike  them. 
One  most  striking  difference  had  a  profound  effect  on  the 
course  of  history.  The  Romans  had  the  empire-making 
capacity  in  a  remarkable  degree.  Their  military  talents 
were  great,  but  these  are  not  so  unusual  as  the  power, 
which  the  Romans  also  had,  of  attaching  their  subjects  to 
themselves,  of  centralizing  and  consolidating  their  conquests 


ITAL.Y 

BEFORE  THE   ROMAN  CONQUEST 


§§5°?5I1      The  Geography  and  Peoples  of  Italy       57 

into  a  single  state,  and  of  making  the  world  Roman.  This 
power  enabled  them  to  continue  the  work  of  Greece  and 
of  Alexander  on  a  larger  scale.  The  common  civilization 
of  the  Orient  which  had  resulted  from  his  conquests  they 
carried  over  the  West  as  well,  and  the  system  of  balanced 
states  into  which  his  empire  had  divided,  they  changed 
into  a  political  unity  which  bound  the  whole  world  of  that 
time  still  more  closely  together. 

50.  Steps  in  the  Making  of  the  Roman  Empire.  —  Origi- 
nally Italy  was  divided  into  a  great  number  of  little  states 

like  those  of  Greece.     One  of  these  was  Rome.     Her  first  First,  the 
step  in  the  conquest   of  the  world  was  to  overcome    her  conquest  of 
immediate  neighbors,  small  city-states  like  herself,  and  to 
form   a   larger   power   by   their   absorption.     This   growth 
brought  the  Romans  into  collision  with  confederations  of 
city-states  or  of  tribes,  fairly  a  match  in  power  for  the  en- 
larged state.     Victory  over  these  gave  possession  of  central 
and  a  part  of  southern  Italy.     The  conquest  of  the  Greek 
cities  of  the  south  was  only  delayed  for  a  moment  by  the 
interference  of  an  army  from  Greece.     Then  followed  the   then  of 
first  attempt  of  the  Romans  to  extend  their  dominion  out-  Carthage 
side  of  Italy,  in  Sicily,  and  this  brought  them  into  conflict  west; 
with  the  other  growing  empire  in  the  West,  the  great  com- 
mercial and  naval  power  of  Carthage.    The  struggle  between 
these  rivals  was  long  and  desperate.     In  the  course  of  it 
Rome  obtained  possession  of  northern  Italy  and  of  Spain, 
and  the  fall  of   Carthage  made  her  mistress  of  the  West. 
There  was  in  the  East  no  power  which  could   long  resist  then  of  the 
the  Romans  after  this,  and  the  conquest   of  the  civilized   East- 
world  was  soon  completed. 

51.  The  Geography  and  Peoples  of  Italy.  —  The  physical  Italy  unlike 
geography    of    Italy    rendered    its    political   consolidation   Greece  in 

■  1  1  r    ^  t  •  physical 

easier   than    that   of  Greece.     Its   mountain   system   runs  features. 
in  a  long  chain  like  a  backbone  through  the  whole  of  the 
peninsula,  and  serves  to  bind  together  rather  than  to  sepa- 
rate into  small  divisions.     The  position  of  Rome  near  the 
centre  was  also  favorable  to  the  control  of  the  whole  of  Italy. 


58    Beginnings  and  Constitutional  Changes    [§§  52>  53 


The  peoples 
of  Italy. 


Mommsen, 
Vol.  1., 
Chap.  IX. 
Ihne, 
I.  81-84. 


The  found- 
ing of  Rome. 
Church, 
Stories  from 
Livy. 
Plutarch, 
Life  of 
Romulus. 


Rome  under 
Kings. 

Ihne,  Early 

Rome 

(Epochs). 


At  the  beginning  of  historical  times,  the  southern  part  of 
Italy  was  occupied  by  Greek  colonies  and  the  northern 
by  Gallic  tribes.  Central  Italy  was  much  divided.  The 
Etruscans  dwelt  toward  the  north,  a  strange  race,  of  great 
energy,  who  seem  in  very  early  times  to  have  ruled  a  large 
portion  of  central  Italy  and  to  have  had  a  very  consider- 
able naval  power  in  the  western  Mediterranean.  They 
were  great  builders,  and  apparently  much  interested  in  a 
kind  of  primitive  study  of  nature.  In  the  very  centre  were 
the  Latin  cities,  of  which  Rome  was  the  most  northern,  per- 
haps originally  an  outpost  against  the  Etruscans.  South  of 
them  were  the  Samnites,  a  shepherd  people,  loosely  united, 
but  of  much  military  power. 

52.  The  Founding  of  Rome. — The  legends  which  the 
later  Romans  told  of  the  beginning  of  their  city  —  the 
founding  by  the  twin  sons  of  Mars,  Romulus  and  Remus,  ex- 
posed to  perish  but  suckled  by  a  wolf;  the  population  of 
the  city  by  outcasts  and  robbers ;  the  seizure  of  the  Sabine 
women  to  provide  wives,  leading  to  a  great  war  and  the  final 
union  of  the  Sabines  and  Romans  in  one  state,  —  these  point 
undoubtedly  to  a  military  origin  and  to  that  kind  of  growth, 
even  in  very  early  times,  by  union  and  absorption,  which 
remained  characteristic  of  Rome  to  the  end. 

53.  The  Period  of  the  Kings.  —  The  first  period  in  the 
history  of  Rome  is,  according  to  tradition,  a  period  of  the 
rule  of  kings.  After  the  reign  of  Romulus  came  that  of 
Numa  Pompilius,  who  gave  the  Romans  laws  and  organized 
their  religion.  Tullius  Hostilius,  the  next  king,  was  a 
warrior  and  spread  the  dominion  of  Rome  over  other  Latin 
cities.  The  territory  of  the  state  was  further  enlarged  by 
the  fourth  king,  Ancus  Martius,  who  also  founded  Ostia,  the 
port  of  Rome,  and  extended  the  city  by  a  fortified  outpost 
on  the  north  side  of  the  Tiber.  Rome  then  passed  under 
the  rule  of  an  Etruscan  dynasty.  In  the  reign  of  Tarquin- 
ius  Priscus,  the  first  of  the  new  kings,  Roman  conquests 
were  continued  and  great  building  enterprises  were  under- 
taken, like  the  Capitol  and  the   Cloaca   Maxima.     Under 


§  54]         Early  Changes  in  the  Constitution  59 

Servius  Tullius,  Rome  became  the  head  of  the  Latin  cities ; 
the  army  and  the  constitution  were  remodelled  together, 
the  soldier  being  made  identical  with  the  citizen,  and  the 
enlarged  city  was  surrounded  with  a  new  wall.     The  third  510  b.c 
Etruscan  king,  Tarquinius  Superbus,  ruled  as  a  tyrant,  and   ^mch'f 
the  Romans  finally  drove  him  out  with  all  his  family,  and  Livy. 
took  a  solemn  oath  never  to  allow  kings  in  Rome  again.  Macaulay, 

54.    Early   Changes   in  the  Constitution.  —  Even   if  the  J^^{t 
stories  of  this  early  period  are  too  legendary  to  be  considered  Rome. 
history,  they  imply  a  line  of  changes  in  the  Roman  consti-  The  king's 
tution  undoubtedly  historical,  and  in  general  similar  to  that  Povyer  not 
in  the   Athenian,  though  with  many  differences  of  detail. 
The  king  of  the  early  state  was  elected,  and  his  power  was 
limited  by  a  senate  or  council  and  by  the  assembly  of  the 
people,  called  the  comitia  curiata.     The  unit  of  the  state 
was  the  family,  of  which  the  father  was  the  head,  with  abso- 
lute power  over  slaves  and  children   alike,  and   also   over 
his  clients  or  dependents,  though  these  were  legally  free. 
The  heads  of  families  were  the  patres,  and  the  power  which  The 
they  possessed  was  the  patria  potestas  of  the  Roman  law.     atncians- 
The  assembly  of  the  "  fathers  "  formed  the  senate.     The  de- 
scendants of  the  "  fathers  "  formed  the  patricians,  who  con- 
trolled the  comitia.     Besides  the  patricians  there  was  also  the  The 
class  of  the  plebeians,  composed  of  later  settlers  in  the  city   Plebeians. 
or   of  the   emancipated   clients   of   the   patricians.      The 
plebeians  were  free  men  and  were  enrolled  in  the  comitia 
curiata,   but  had   no   influence   upon   its   decisions.     The 
early  state  was  thus  a  limited  monarchy,  with  the  real  power 
in  the  hands  of  the  aristocracy.     It  seems  to  have  been  an 
attempt  on  the  part  of  the  Etruscan  kings  to  make  their 
power  more  real  by  the  aid  of  the  plebeians  which  led  to 
their  expulsion,  and  the  revolution  of  510  would  therefore 
be  in  the  interests  of  the  aristocracy. 

The  first  step  towards  the  admission  of  the  plebeians  to  The  reforms 
political  power  was  taken,  according  to  tradition,  by  Servius  of  Servius 
lullius  before  the  expulsion  of  the  kings.     He  organized  a 
new   assembly,    the   comitia   centuriata,  in  which   political 


6o       Beginnings  and  Constitutional  Changes    [§  55?  56 


As  in  Solon's 
reforms  in 
Athens. 
See  p.  26. 


Two  consuls 
at  the  head. 
Like  the  two 
kings  at 
Sparta. 


Conquest 
and  constitu- 
tion-making 
go  on 
together. 


power  was  given  not  to  birth,  as  in  the  old  comitia  curia/a, 
but  to  wealth.  This  admitted  the  rich  plebeians  to  a  share 
in  the  government,  but  left  the  poor,  the  great  majority  of 
the  order,  grouped  in  a  single  century  with  only  one  vote, 
while  the  two  richest  classes  had  a  majority  of  all  the 
centuries. 

55.  The  Early  Constitution  of  the  Republic. — After  the 
expulsion  of  the  kings  the  executive  power  was  given  to 

two  consuls,  holding  office 
for  a  year,  whose  powers 
were  equal  and  each  of 
whom  acted  as  a  check 
on  the  other.  The  diffi- 
culty which  might  arise 
from  a  divided  command 
in  times  of  great  public 
danger  was  avoided,  when- 
ever it  arose,  by  the  ap- 
pointment of  a  dictator, 
who  suspended  the  con- 
stitution and  exercised  an 
absolute  power,  but  only 
for  a  period  of  six  months. 
The  comitia  centuriata 
elected  the  consuls  and 
now  became  the  chief  po- 
litical assembly  in  place 
of  the  comitia  curiata.  The  revolution  in  this  way  protected 
the  aristocracy  from  any  increase  of  the  executive  power  at 
their  expense,  but  did  not  give  to  the  plebeians  any  larger 
share  in  the  government. 

56.  Rome  begins  her  Conquests.  —  For  something  more 
than  a  century  and  a  half  after  the  establishment  of  the 
Republic,  the  two  processes  which  have  already  been  de- 
scribed went  on  steadily  and  together  in  the  history  of 
Rome :  the  conquest  of  central  Italy,  and  the  gradual 
making  over  of  the   constitution   in   the   interests   of  the 


Roman  Lictors 


§57]        Struggle  of  the  Plebeians  for  Rights  61 

plebeians.  In  the  first  direction  the  overthrow  of  the  kings 
seems  to  have  been  followed  by  a  great  decline  of  Rome's 
power  in  central  Italy.  For  many  years  she  had  all  that  she 
could  do  to  resist  the  attacks  of  her  enemies,  the  Etruscans 
on  the  north,  the  ^Equians  on  the  east,  and  the  Volscians 
on  the  south.  About  490  a  new  league  was  formed  with 
the  Latin  cities  which  was  of  great  assistance  to  Rome.  It 
was  not  until  the  last  part  of  this  century,  however,  that 
Rome  began  to  gain  decided  advantages  over  her  neighbors, 
and  to  capture  large  towns  both  north  and  south  of  the 
Tiber.  The  most  important  of  these  was  the  Etruscan  city 
of  Veii,  which  was  taken  in  396  after  a  long  siege. 

Soon  after  this  Rome  was  herself  taken  and  burnt  by  an   Capture  of 
army  of  the  barbarian  Gauls  who  had  taken  possession  of  Rome  by the 
north  Italy.     This  wa^s  only  a  momentary  check  to  the  prog-   3go  B  'c# 
ress  of  the  Roman  arms.     The  city  was  immediately  rebuilt   Mommsen, 
and  her  power  restored.     About  fifty  years  later  her  position   ?• 429; 
was  so  well  recognized  that  the  city  of  Capua,  attacked  by   1.266-276; 
the  Samnites,  appealed  to  her  for  protection.     In  granting  Livy. 
this  request  Rome  was  brought  into  hostility  with  a  confed-      '  4I~49- 
eration  of  strong  tribes,  which  had  been  forming  a  dominion 
in  the  south  in  much  the  same  way  that  Rome  had  been  in 
the  centre  of  Italy,  and  the  struggle  began  which  was  to 
decide  the  sovereignty  of  the  whole  peninsula. 

57.    The  Struggle  of  the  Plebeians  for  Rights.  —  In  the   A  long 
other  direction,  the  gradual  changing  of  the  constitution,  Pen°dof 
the  process  began  almost  immediately  after  the  establish-   tionai 
ment  of  the  Republic,  and  continued  for  more  than  two  changes, 
hundred  years,  though  it  was  at   intervals  interrupted   for 
considerable  periods.     The  changes  made  were  due  to  con- 
tinued efforts  of  the  plebeians  to  obtain  equality  with  the 
patricians.     In  this  process  of  change  there  are  three  well-   Three  stages, 
marked  stages  in  which   different  interests  take  the  lead, 
though  others  occasionally  appear.     The  first  stage  was  the 
struggle  of  the  poor  for  better  terms  as  debtors  and  for  a 
share  in  the  public  lands ;  the  second  was  the  struggle  for 
the  publication  of  the  laws,  and  the  third  that  for  the  right 


62         Beginnings  a?id  Constitutional  Changes      [§  58 


Rome's 
Habeas 


to  be  elected  to  public  office.  Tradition  ascribes  the  first 
constitutional  change  to  the  same  year  with  the  formation 
of  the  Republic.  This  was  the  passage  of  the  Valerian  law, 
allowing  any  citizen  condemned  by  a  magistrate  the  right  of 


Ruins  of  the  Aqueducts,  Rome 


appeal  to  the  people.     This  law,  which  had  to  be  reenacted 
more  than  once  before  it  was  made  entirely  effective,  has 


Corpus  Act 
Mommsen, 

Ihne,  i.  128.     Deen  rightly  called  the  Roman  Habeas  Corpus. 
58.    The  Debtors  demand  less  Severe  Laws. 


The  laws 


§  59]  The  Struggle  against  Secret  Laws  63 

of  early  Rome,  framed  by  the   wealthy,  were   very  severe   The  early 
toward  the  debtor,  like  those  of  early  Athens.     They  gave   laws  favored 
the  creditor  right  over  the  person  and  family  of  the  insolvent  a^i^Athens 
debtor,  as  well  as  over  his  property,  and  their  object  was,  no 
doubt,  not  merely  to  protect  the  property  of  the  rich,  but 
also  to  hold  the  plebeians    in  subjection.     The  increasing 
number  of  the  plebeians,  however,  gave  them  a  power  which 
they  were  not  slow  to  realize  when  complaints  and  persua- 
sion failed.     In  494  the  army  of  the  plebeians,  returning  The  first 
from  a  victorious  campaign,  abandoned  Rome,  and  began   secession, 
to  establish  a  new  city  on  the  Sacred  Mount,  not  far  away.  4°4  B-c 
This  brought  the  upper  classes  to  terms.     Some  immediate   n.  32-33. 
relief  was  granted  to  the  debtor  class,  and  more  important 
still,  the  plebeians  were  granted  two  officers,  the  tribunes,  The 
who  were  to  protect  their  interests  against  oppressive  acts  Tribunes, 
public  or  private.     The  "  veto  "  of  the  tribune  could  stop 
for  the  time  the  action  even  of  the  consul.     About  twenty 
years  later  the  election  of  the  tribunes  was  vested  in  the 
comitia  tributa,  a   plebeian   assembly  organized   upon  the 
democratic  principle  of  equal  suffrage.     It  was  long  before 
the  debtor  was  fully  protected  by  the  law  against  the  injus- 
tice of  the  creditor,  but  the  beginning  had  been  made  by  the 
first  secession.     In  486  the  equally  long  process  of  admitting 
plebeians  to  a  share  in  the  public  lands  was  begun  by  the 
agrarian  law  of  Spurius  Cassius. 

59.   The  Struggle  against  Secret  Laws.  — The  struggle  to   Reform  of 
compel  the  patricians  to  put  the  laws  of  Rome  into  writing  *he  ]*™s-   , 

11  •   1       1        1  1  11  1  •  See  Draco  s 

that  they  might  be   known   by  all,  and   so   in  a  sense   to  ref0rmsin 
bestow  equality  before  the  law  upon  all,  was   a  compara-   Athens, 
tively  short  one.     Ten  years  of  agitation,  during  which  tra- 
dition says  a  commission  visited  Greece  especially  to  study 
the  laws  of  Solon,  secured  the  appointment  of  "  Decemvirs,"   The 
who  suspended  the  ordinary  magistrates,  and  were  instructed   Decemvirs, 
to  put  the   laws   into  writing.     A   second   year  completed 
their  work,  which  formed  a  code  called   the  laws   of  the 
twelve  tables.     The  extraordinary  power  which  had  been 
granted  to  the  decemvirs  to  enable  them  to  carry  through 


64        Beginnings  and  Constitutional  Changes      [§  60 


Virginia. 
Church, 
Stories  from 
Livy; 
Macaulay, 
Lays  of  An- 
cient Rome; 
Livy,  III. 
44-58. 

The  third 
secession, 
445  B.C 


The  censor- 
ship. 


The  victory 
of  the  plebe- 
ians, Livy, 

vi.  35-42. 


their  work,  they  contrived  to  extend  into  a  tyranny  of  some- 
thing like  the  Greek  type.  Tradition  fixes  the  responsibility 
for  this  upon  Appius  Claudius,  and  relates  how  his  attempt 
to  seize  the  free  maiden  Virginia  as  a  slave,  led  to  a  new 
secession  of  the  plebeians  to  the  Sacred  Mount  to  force  the 
overthrow  of  the  decemvirs.  In  securing  this  they  secured 
at  the  same  time  other  concessions.  The  Valerian  law  of 
appeal  was  confirmed ;  all  plebeian  officers  were  to  be  held 
sacred  during  their  term  of  office ;  and  the  enactments  of 
the  comitia  tributa  were  to  be  treated  as  binding  laws. 

60.  The  Conflict  for  Equality  in  the  Offices.  —  The  third 
struggle,  for  equality  in  holding  office,  began  immediately. 
In  445  a  third  secession  again  forced  the  patricians  to  yield, 
but  to  avoid  yielding  in  form,  the  consulship  was,  so  to  speak, 
put  into  commission,  and  it  was  agreed  that  military  tribunes 
with  consular  powers,  part  of  whom  might  be  plebeians,  should 
take  the  place  of  consuls.  At  the  same  time  the  patricians 
made  a  further  concession  which  was  a  virtual  surrender  of 
their  claim  to  an  exclusive  position  in  the  state  —  intermar- 
riages between  the  two  orders  were  legalized.  To  avoid  the 
consequences  of  conceding  the  consular  power  to  the  plebe- 
ians, the  patricians  created  a  new  office,  the  censorship,  to 
which  only  patricians  could  be  elected,  and  which  was  to 
have  the  exclusive  control  of  several  important  matters  in 
which  the  aristocracy  was  immediately  interested. 

But  the  tide  was  now  running  steadily  in  favor  of  democ- 
racy. One  after  another  the  various  offices  were  thrown 
open.  In  376  the  Licinian  Rogations  were  proposed,  and 
carried  after  nine  years  of  agitation.  These  decreed  the 
restoration  of  consuls  and  declared  that  one  of  them  must 
always  be  a  plebeian.  Other  provisions  relieved  the  debtors 
and  limited  the  amount  of  public  land  which  one  person  could 
hold.  In  356  the  first  plebeian  dictator  was  appointed;  in 
351  the  first  plebeian  censor.  In  339  it  was  declared  that 
one  censor  must  be  a  plebeian,  that  the  legislation  of  the 
comitia  tributa  should  be  law  for  all  the  Romans,  and  the 
comitia  curiata,  which  had  enjoyed  a  kind  of  veto  on  the  acts 


§  6o]  The  Conflict  for  Official  Equality 


65 


of  the  other  assemblies,  was  reduced  to  a  mere  form  by 
being  required  to  give  its  assent  in  advance.     The  long 
conflict  was  closed  by  the  passage  of  the  Lex  Hortensia  in 
286,  which  finally  made 
the  comitia   tributa  the 
supreme  assembly. 

The  conclusion  of  this 
long  struggle  with  the 
victory  of  the  plebeians 
did  not  destroy  the  no- 
bility of  Rome.  New 
plebeian  noble  families 
rose  to  take  their  place 
beside  the  patrician  fam- 
ilies. But  it  did  give 
the  political  power  in 
the  state  to  the  people 
expressed      through     a 

democratic  assembly,  and  the  power  of  the  aristocracy  in 
the  later  Rome  was  based  upon  the  influence  of  wealth  and 
position  and  not  upon  legal  privileges. 

Topics 

In  what  ways  were  the  Romans  the  successors  of  the  Greeks  in 
history?  Rome's  steps  in  the  conquest  of  the  world.  The  various 
peoples  of  Italy.  The  situation  of  Rome.  Its  earliest  government. 
The  first  constitutional  changes.  The  earliest  republican  government. 
The  first  conquests  of  Rome.  The  struggle  of  the  debtor  class  for  more 
favorable  laws.  The  demand  for  written  laws.  What  were  the  differ- 
ences between  the  three  Roman  comitia.  The  opening  of  all  the 
offices  to  the  plebeians.     Result. 


A  Quadriga 


The  Roman 
constitution 
as  described 
by  Polybius, 
VI.  1 1-26,  in 
Fling,  No.  6. 


The  rise  of  a 
new  nobility, 
though  the 
laws  were 
democratic. 
Mommsen, 

II.  393 1 
Ihne,  I. 

428-431. 


Topics  for  Assigned  Studies 

The  first  secession  and  the  tribunes.      Mommsen,  Vol.  I.,    347-357. 

Ihne,  Book  II.,  Chap.  II. 
The  decemvirs.     Livy,  III.  33-55.     Ihne,  Book  II.,  Chaps.  IX.  and  X. 

Mommsen,  I.  361-369. 
The  comitia.     Mommsen,  I.  93-96,  326-329,  360.     Ihne,  I.  63,   138, 

202-207,  449J   IV«  9~42' 


CHAPTER   II 


THE   STRUGGLE   FOR   EMPIRE 


The  history 

largely 

legendary. 


Church, 
Stories  from 
Livy. 


The  First 
Samnite 
War, 
343-341  B.C. 


The  Latin 
War,  340- 
338  B.C. 


61.  The  First  Samnite  and  the  Latin  Wars.  —  In  tracing 
the  growth  of  the  Roman  constitution  to  the  point  where 
the  victory  of  the  plebeians  had  been  secured,  we  have 
brought  it  down  to  the  close  of  the  struggle  with  the 
Samnites,  and  to  the  eve  of  the  conflict  with  the  Greeks 
which  settled  the  destinies  of  Italy.  Of  the  details  of  these 
wars  we  know  comparatively  little.  The  history  of  them  as 
written  by  the  later  Romans,  like  that  of  the  constitution, 
was  full  of  legends  in  which  it  is  difficult  to  discern  the 
exact  facts.  But  the  legends  of  military  and  constitutional 
history  alike  reveal  the  race  qualities  of  the  Roman  —  per- 
sonal bravery,  devotion  to  the  state,  contempt  of  suffering 
and  death,  iron  will  and  relentless  discipline  —  the  qualities 
which  made  Rome  mistress  first  of  Italy  and  then  of  the 
world. 

The  union  of  Latium  under  the  headship  of  the  Romans 
brought  them  into  contact  with  the  Samnites,  who  had 
formed  a  state  southeast  of  Rome  in  the  Apennines  and 
who  were  now  trying  to  extend  their  power  to  the  south 
and  west.  A  struggle  for  supremacy  was  inevitable  between 
these  two  strong  military  states.  The  appeal  of  the  city  of 
Capua  to  Rome  for  help  led  to  the  First  Samnite  War.  This 
was  of  short  duration  and  indecisive.  Signs  of  mutiny 
among  the  plebeians  and  of  discontent  among  the  Latins 
warned  the  Romans  that  they  were  as  yet  in  no  condition 
for  a  desperate  foreign  strife.  In  fact,  in  the  interval  be- 
tween the  first  and  second  of  these  wars,  the  Latin  cities 
revolted  and  tried  to  force  the  Romans  to  admit  them  to 

66 


§§  62,  63] 


War  with  the  Gi'eeks 


67 


an  equal  partnership  in  the  state.  But  the  Romans  were 
victorious,  and  though  the  suffrage  was  granted  to  some  of 
the  Latins,  the  most  were  reduced  to  the  condition  of 
subjects. 

62.  The  Conquest  of  the  Samnites.  —  The  Latin  War  was 
followed  by  nearly  a  half  century  of  conflict  with  the  Sam- 
nites and  their  allies,  usually  divided  into  the  second  and 
third  wars,  though  there  was  no  real  interruption.  It  was 
in  fact  a  war  for  the  control  of  Italy  from  the  Gauls  on  the 
north  to  the  Greek  on  the  south,  and  it  involved  before  its 
close  both  these  peoples  in  enmity  with  Rome.  The  Sam- 
nites were  not  unequal  enemies  of  the  Romans.  They 
were  kindred  peoples  in  race  characteristics  and  military 
methods. 

About  ten  years  after  the  opening  of  the  war,  the  Romans 
were  outgeneralled  at  the  Caudine  Forks  and  their  army  was 
forced  to  surrender.  The  terms  of  peace  which  the  com- 
manders accepted  were,  however,  promptly  rejected  by  the 
Senate,  and  the  officers  who  had  made  the  treaty  were 
handed  over  to  the  Samnites,  but  they,  with  more  of  the 
spirit  of  honorable  dealing  than  the  Romans,  refused  to  hold 
their  prisoners  responsible.  Slowly  but  steadily  the  Romans 
drove  the  Samnites  back  into  the  mountains  and  began  even 
to  get  possession  of  these.  In  the  last  period  of  the  war 
the  Samnites  were  able  to  form  a  union  of  all  the  central 
Italian  states  whose  existence  was  threatened  by  the  success 
of  Rome.  Samnites,  Etruscans,  and  Umbrians  united,  and 
the  Gauls  lent  some  aid.  But  Rome  gained  the  decisive 
victory  of  Sentinum,  and  the  league  was  broken  up.  This 
was  the  last  hope  of  the  Samnites,  and  by  290  the  suprem- 
acy of  Rome  was  established. 

63.  War  with  the  Greeks.  — A  war  with  the  Greeks  of 
southern  Italy  followed  almost  immediately.  Their  cities 
were  mostly  without  military  strength  and  incapable  of 
resisting  Rome.  The  city  of  Tarentum,  however,  had  con- 
siderable naval  strength  and  was  well  fortified.  She  resolved, 
therefore,  to  check  the  progress  of  the  Romans,  attacked 


The  Second 
and  Third 
Samnite 
Wars, 
326-290  B.C. 


A  Roman 
army  surren- 
ders. 
Livy,  IX. 
2-6,  8-1 1 ; 
Ihne,  I. 
396-400. 
A  similar 
incident  in 
the  conquest 
of  Spain, 
Mommsen, 
III.  228. 

Other  states 
join  the 
Samnites. 


A  quarrel 
with 

Tarentum, 
282  B.C. 


68 


The  Struggle  for  Empire 


[§64 


The  plans  of 
Pyrrhus, 
king  of 
Epirus. 


The  invasion 
of  Italy  by  a 
Greek  army. 
Holm,  His- 
tory of 
Greece,  IV., 
Chap.  VI 11. 


Roman  colo- 
nies were 
garrisons. 


and  drove  off  a  Roman  fleet  from  the  neighboring  waters, 
and  contemptuously  rejected  the  overtures  of  peace  which 
the  Romans  made,  perhaps  because  they  were  conscious  of 
the  danger  of  an  invasion  from  Greece  to  aid  the  Italian 
Greeks.  Tarentum  did  appeal  to  Pyrrhus,  king  of  Epirus. 
He  seems  to  have  been  ambitious  of  emulating  in  the  West 
the  exploits  of  Alexander  in  the  East  and  of  founding  a  great 
Greek  empire  on  the  foundation  of  the  Greek  cities  of  Italy 
recovered  from  Rome  and  of  Sicily  recovered  from  Carthage. 
This  plan  brought  him  into  collision  with  very  different  ene- 
mies from  any  that  Alexander  conquered.  What  would  have 
been  the  result  of  a  conflict  between  the  Romans  and  the 
army  of  Alexander  it  is  impossible  to  say,  but  the  army  of 
Pyrrhus  was  decidedly  inferior  to  that  of  Alexander. 

Pyrrhus  landed  in  Italy  in  280,  and  in  that  year  gained  a 
victory  over  the  Romans  at  Heraclea,  and  in  the  next  year 
another  at  Ausculum,  both  largely  by  the  use  of  elephants 
which  threw  the  Roman  horse  into  confusion.  But  these 
victories  were  dearly  bought,  and  Pyrrhus  himself  acknow- 
ledged that  they  were  almost  equivalent  to  defeats.  After 
an  interval  spent  in  Sicily,  where  he  gained  some  success, 
he  returned  to  Italy  and  in  274  suffered  so  severe  a  defeat 
that  he  was  forced  to  retire  to  Greece.  Tarentum  could  not 
maintain  herself  alone,  and  all  Italy  to  the  borders  of  the 
Gallic  territory  on  the  north  now  passed  under  the  dominion 
of  Rome. 

64.  The  Roman  Colonial  System.  —  In  the  course  of  their 
conquest  of  Italy  the  Romans  had  brought  into  use  certain 
political  methods  for  the  treatment  of  their  subjects  and  the 
securing  of  their  empire  which  they  continued  to  employ  as 
their  conquests  extended  over  the  world.  Very  early,  even 
before  the  capture  of  the  city  by  the  Gauls,  Rome  had 
begun  to  plant  colonies  of  her  citizens  in  the  subject  lands 
to  act  as  garrisons,  and  also  as  a  local  ruling  class.  The 
colonists  retained  their  Roman  citizenship,  though  they  were 
obliged  to  return  to  the  city  to  vote.  Later,  Rome  began 
to  plant  colonies  of  another  kind,  those  of  the  Latin  right, 


§65] 


Rome  and  Carthage,  Rivals 


69 


which  did  not  carry  citizenship  with  it,  but  did  secure  large 
local  independence  and  valuable  rights.  Of  the  towns  in 
the  subject  lands,  some  were  admitted  to  full  citizenship, 
some  received  a  limited  citizenship  which  gave  them  equal- 
ity with  the  Romans  in  private  law  but  not  the  suffrage,  and 
others  were  reckoned  as  allies  with  independent  local  gov- 
ernments. Rome  retained  a  strict  control  over  all  questions 
of  general  policy,  but  allowed  very  considerable  indepen- 
dence in  merely  local  questions. 

All  the  subjects  of  Rome  looked  forward  to  an  extension 
of  their  rights,  and  finally  to  the  gift  of  full  citizenship  as  a 
reward  of  faithful  services.  In  the  meantime  they  enjoyed 
valuable  pecuniary  privileges  from  the  conquests  which  they 
assisted  to  make,  since  the  duty  of  military  service  rested  on 
all.  Rome's  policy  was  a  liberal  one,  and  from  it  she  reaped 
many  advantages,  though  it  was  not  always  consistently  fol- 
lowed. Before  the  conquest  of  Italy  was  complete,  Rome 
had  also  begun  her  system  of  splendid  roads  by  which  the 
empire  was  finally  linked  together,  and  communication  with 
the  most  distant  provinces  made  easy  and  rapid. 

65.  Rome  and  Carthage,  Rivals  for  Empire.  —  The  con- 
quest of  Italy  brought  Rome  face  to  face  with  a  new  and 
most  powerful  enemy  and  rendered  inevitable  a  long  and 
desperate  struggle.  The  Phoenician  Carthage  was  the  great 
naval  and  commercial  power  of  the  western  Mediterranean. 
The  western  half  of  the  North  African  coast  was  under  her 
rule.  Her  trading  stations  were  scattered  everywhere  and  her 
commerce  extended  out  into  the  Atlantic  and  as  far  north 
as  Britain.  Her  wealth  seemed  exhaustless  and  her  army, 
though  composed  mainly  of  mercenaries,  seemed  fairly  a 
match  for  the  Roman  army.  The  odds  were  against  Rome 
at  the  beginning  of  the  war.  She  was  comparatively  poor, 
with  no  extended  commerce,  depending  for  the  insignificant 
navy  which  she  had  upon  her  subject  cities,  and  hardly  able, 
it  would  seem,  to  use  her  powerful  land  forces  against  an 
enemy  in  full  possession  of  the  sea.  The  event  proved  that 
in  another  way  the  balance  was  somewhat  redressed.     The 


Colonies 
without 
citizenship. 
The  treat- 
ment of 
conquered 
towns. 


Rome's 
liberal  policy, 
Compare 
with  Athens' 
policy  toward 
her  allies. 


The  Roman 
roads. 


The  power 
of  Carthage. 


Church, 
Carthage 
(Nations) ; 
R.  Bosworth 
Smith,  Car- 
thage and  the 
Carthagin- 
ians (Long- 
mans) . 


Rome  had 
less  re- 
sources, 


70 


The  Struggle  for  Empire  [§§  66>  67 


but  more 
devoted 
subjects. 
Smith,  Rome 
and  Carthage 
(Epochs). 

An  inevitable 
conflict. 


A  crisis  in 
Roman  his- 
tory, and  in 
that  of  the 
world. 
Freeman, 
Periods  of 
l'.u>  opean 
History, 
PP.  47-54- 


A  struggle  for 
Sicily,  264- 
241  B.C. 
Freeman, 
Sicily,  Chap. 
XIV. 

(Nations). 
Sources  in 
Fling,  No.  7. 


subjects  of  Carthage  found  her  rule  oppressive  and  her  mer- 
cenary armies  were  not  always  to  be  trusted.  Rome's  lib- 
eral policy  on  the  other  hand  had  attached  her  subjects  to 
her  cause  and  her  armies  had  a  profound  personal  interest 
in  the  result. 

66.  The  Importance  of  the  Struggle. — The  conflict  was 
an  inevitable  one.  Two  expanding  empires  had  come  into 
contact  with  one  another.  Any  further  advance  of  the  one 
must  be  at  the  expense  of  the  other.  Peace  between  them 
could  only  be  an  armed  peace,  and  for  the  terrible  strain 
of  long-continued  and  jealous"  watchfulness  with  arms  in 
hand  the  world  was  not  yet  ready.  That  has  only  been 
possible  in  the  most  recent  times. 

The  position  was  an  especially  dangerous  one  for  Rome, 
with  almost  no  naval  power  and  with  a  very  long  and  ex- 
posed coast  line.  But  this  conflict  was,  in  the  history  of  the 
world,  more  than  a  conflict  between  Rome  and  Carthage. 
It  was  a  struggle  between  the  East  and  the  West,  between 
Asia  and  Europe,  between  one  type  of  civilization  and 
another.  Far  more  truly  than  in  the  Persian  wars  of  Greek 
history,  but  not  for  the  last  time,  the  Aryan  was  called  upon 
to  defend  his  possession  of  Europe  and  the  growing  civiliza- 
tion of  the  world  against  the  attack  of  alien  races.  Rome 
saved  compact  organization  and  disciplined  order,  the 
future  foundation  of  Christendom,  when  she  saved  her 
empire  from  absorption  in  that  of  Carthage. 

67.  The  First  Punic  War.  —  Sicily  was  the  prize  con- 
tended for  in  the  First  Punic  War.  Carthage  already  pos- 
sessed more  than  half  the  island.  Hiero,  tyrant  of  Syracuse, 
ruled  in  the  east,  and  a  band  of  revolted  soldiers,  the  Mam- 
ertines,  had  seized  Messana  at  the  northeast  corner  and 
were  at  war  with  Syracuse.  Hiero  appealed  to  Carthage 
for  aid,  and  the  Mamertines  to  Rome.  With  great  exer- 
tions Rome  got  together  a  fleet  equal  in  size  to  the  Car- 
thaginian. An  ingenious  invention  enabled  the  Romans  to 
make  up  for  their  lack  of  naval  training.  They  arranged  on 
their  ships  a  great  boarding  platform  so  that  it  could  be 


§67] 


The  First  Punic  War 


7i 


thrown  across  to  the  deck  of  the  enemy's  vessel  and  be 
fastened  there  with  great  spikes  projecting  from  the  under 
side.  By  this  contrivance,  a  naval  battle  was  changed  in 
great  measure  into  a  land  battle. 

At  first  the  war  went  decidedly  in  favor  of  the  Romans. 
An  army  relieved  Messana,  defeated  the  Carthaginians,  and 
forced  Hiero  to  make  peace.  Convinced  of  the  greater 
strength  of  the  Romans,  he  remained  during  the  war  their 
faithful  ally.     In  consequence  of  these  successes  a  consider- 


Rome  in- 
vents new 
naval  tactics, 
Mommsen, 
Vol.  II.,  172- 

175; 

Ihne.Vol.II., 

50-55. 

Roman 

successes. 


Roman  Trireme,  with  Boarding  Bridge 

able  part  of  Sicily  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Romans.     In 
260  the  new  Roman  fleet  gained  a  victory  over  a  Cartha- 
ginian fleet.     In    256   another  naval  victory  off  Ecnomus 
opened  the  way  for  the  army  of  Regulus  to  land  in  Africa.  The  Romans 
At  first  this  invasion  was  successful,  but  the  generalship  of 
Regulus  was  poor,  and  in  the  next  year  the  Carthaginians, 
aided  by  a  Spartan  general,  Xanthippus,  defeated  him  and 
forced  his  army  to  surrender.     From  this  time  the  war  was 
without  decided  advantage  to  either  side.     A  request  of    ihne,  II. 
the  Carthaginians  for  peace  was  rejected,  tradition  says  by  7s"8 *• 
the   advice  of  Regulus,  who   returned   a   prisoner  to   die 


invade 
Africa. 


72 


The  Struggle  for  Empire 


68,69 


in  Carthage.  Three  Roman  fleets  were  destroyed  by 
storms  and  only  with  great  difficulty  replaced.  Finally  both 
states  became  anxious  for  a  time  of  peace  in  which  to  re- 
cruit their  strength,  and  peace  was  made  in  241.  Carthage 
had  on  the  whole  suffered  the  most  and  she  had  to  purchase 
the  peace  by  abandoning  Sicily,  which  now  became  a  Roman 
province,  the  first  of  the  provinces,  and  by  paying  an 
indemnity. 

Both  sides  knew  that  the  war  was  unfinished  and  employed 
the  interval  in  gaining  strength  for  a  new  struggle.  Rome 
seized  Sardinia  and  Corsica,  conquered  the  Gallic  tribes  of 
northern  Italy,  extending  her  boundaries  to  the  Alps,  and 
took  the  first  step  towards  the  East  by  subduing  the  pirates 
of  the  Illyrian  coast.  Carthage,  after  a  desperate  struggle 
with  her  revolted  mercenaries,  allowed  Hamilcar  and  his 
family  to  build  up  a  new  empire  in  Spain  to  replace  Sicily. 

68.  Hannibal' 8  Invasion  of  Italy.  —  The  second  war 
began  in  218.  The  Carthaginian  army  in  Spain  was  better 
than  any  that  she  had  had  during  the  first  war,  and  it  was 
in  the  hands  of  the  greatest  soldier  of  her  history,  Hannibal, 
son  of  Hamilcar.  He  formed  a  bold  plan  of  striking  at  the 
heart  of  the  enemy  by  an  invasion  of  Italy,  and  succeeded 
in  forcing  his  way  through  the  Alps  against  the  difficulties 
of  the  passage  and  the  hostility  of  the  natives,  and  arrived 
in  northern  Italy  with  a  reduced  but  still  formidable  army. 
Some  of  the  lately  conquered  Gauls  joined  him.  Three 
Roman  armies  in  succession  were  defeated,  on  the  Ticinus, 
the  Trebia,  and  at  Lake  Trasimenus.  Hannibal  then  marched 
by  Rome  and  into  southern  Italy.  His  hope  was  that  the 
subjects  of  Rome  would  revolt  on  the  approach  of  his  army, 
and  that  he  could  thus  destroy  her  empire.  In  this  he  was 
deceived.  Few  joined  him  even  after  his  overwhelming 
victory  at  Cannae,  where  the  Roman  commanders  were 
practically  forced  to  fight  by  the  democracy  tired  of  the 
"  Fabian  "  policy  of  the  dictator,  Q.  Fabius  Maximus. 

69.  Rome's  Fortunes  at  their  Lowest,  and  their  Turn.  — 
Capua,  the  second  city  of  Italy,  now  went  over  to  Hannibal, 


§  7°]  The  Failure  of  Hannibal's  Hopes 


73 


with  some  of  the  other  south  Italian  subjects  of  Rome, 
but  the  most  remained  faithful,  and  Rome  herself  had  no 
thought  of  yielding.  She  organized  for  a  last  resistance 
what  force  she  had.  Slaves  and  boys  were  enlisted.  A 
new  army  was  soon  in  the  field  and  Hannibal  was  forced 
to  recognize  the  fact  that  he  could  not  yet  strike  the  city 
itself.  His  victories  had  been  bought  with  heavy  losses. 
The  army  which  he  had  created  in  Spain  was  growing  con- 
stantly smaller.  No  reinforcements  arrived  from  Carthage 
and  his  Italian  allies  were  not  the  most  trustworthy  or  effi- 
cient. For  twelve  years  he  maintained  himself  in  southern 
Italy,  unable  to  gain  any  decisive  advantage  against  the 
cautious  tactics  of  the  Romans,  but  strong  enough  to  keep 
the  field  and  await  the  two  events  on  which  he  now  depended 
for  final  success.  These  were,  first,  a  general  war  on  Rome 
by  other  Mediterranean  states,  especially  by  Macedonia  and 
Syracuse,  and  second,  the  invasion  of  Italy  by  a  new  Spanish 
army  led  by  his  brother  Hasplrubal. 

70.  The  Failure  of  Hannibal's  Hopes  from  without.  —  The 
battle  of  Cannae  had  been  soon  followed  by  the  death  of  the 
old  ally  of  Rome,  Hiero  of  Syracuse.  His  grandson,  Hier- 
onymus,  went  over  to  the  side  of  Carthage,  and  though  he 
was  assassinated  in  a  few  months,  the  city  had  still  to  be  re- 
duced and  a  considerable  portion  of  the  island.  It  was  not 
until  212  that  this  work  was  completed,  for  Syracuse  had 
been  strongly  fortified  and  was  ably  defended  by  the  genius 
of  the  famous  mathematician  Archimedes,  but  this  war  af- 
forded no  relief  to  Hannibal. 

The  Macedonian  War  which  began  in  214  was  equally 
without  avail.  Philip,  king  of  Macedonia,  feared  the  ad- 
vance of  the  Romans  in  Illyria  and  he  was  ambitious  of 
military  glory,  but  he  conducted  the  war  with  great  irresolu- 
tion. The  Romans  found  allies  in  Greece  itself  in  the 
yEtolian  League,  and  though  the  war  lingered  till  205,  it 
compelled  no  change  of  the  Roman  plans  against  the 
Carthaginians. 

The  failure  of  Hannibal's  hopes  from  Spain  was  more 


Roman 
courage. 


Hannibal 
isolated  and 
powerless  to 
end  the  war. 


The  siege  of 
Syracuse. 


Livy, 
XXIV.  34. 

The  First 
Macedonian 
War, 
214-205  B.C. 


74 


The  Struggle  for  Empire 


[§7i 


The  Scipios 
in  Spain. 


Hasdrubal 

invades 

Italy, 

207  B.C. 

Mommsen, 

II.  346-349; 

Ihne, 

11.385-393; 
Livy, 
XXVII. 
46-51. 


His  death. 

Scipio  ends 
the  war. 


Battle  of 
Zama, 
202  B.C. 


tragic.  At  the  beginning  of  the  war  the  Romans  had  hoped 
to  be  the  attacking  party  in  Spain  and  to  keep  the  Carthagin- 
ian forces  occupied  there,  and  the  army  which  had  been  sent 
for  this  purpose  kept  on  its  way  even  after  it  was  learned 

that  Hannibal  had  crossed  the 
Alps.  The  Roman  campaign  was 
ably  managed  by  the  two  Scipios, 
Cneius  and  Publius,  and  after 
their  death  by  the  young  Publius 
Cornelius  Scipio,  son  of  Publius. 
For  years  Spain  could  spare  no 
reinforcements  for  Hannibal  and 
even  demanded  itself  reinforce- 
ment from  Africa.  At  last,  Has- 
drubal seems  to  have  outmanoeu- 
vred Scipio,  crossed  the  Pyrenees 
to  the  west  of  the  Roman  forces, 
and  after  a  long  passage  appeared 
in  northern  Italy.  His  despatches 
to  his  brother  from  this  point  fell 
into  the  hands  of  the  Romans. 
The  consul  Nero,  who  com- 
manded in  the  south,  with  a  part 
of  his  army  succeeded  in  joining 
his  colleague  in  the  north  without 
the  knowledge  of  Hannibal,  and  together  they  fell  upon  Has- 
drubal, and  destroyed  his  army.  The  head  of  his  brother 
pitched  into  his  camp  was  the  first  news  to  Hannibal  both 
of  his  brother's  arrival  and  of  his  destruction. 

71.  The  War  carried  into  Africa.  —  In  the  same  year 
Scipio  practically  completed  the  subjection  of  Spain.  Im- 
mediately he  began  to  carry  out  his  plan  for  transferring 
the  war  into  Africa,  and  so  forcing  Hannibal  to  return. 
With  difficulty  the  reluctant  sanction  of  the  Senate  was 
secured.  In  204  he  landed  in  Africa  and  within  a  few 
months  by  two  decisive  victories  he  had  forced  the  recall  of 
Hannibal.     In  202  the  final  battle  of  Zama  closed  the  war. 


Rostra 


76 


The  Struggle  for  Empire 


[§7i 


In  military  skill  the  two  commanders  were  not  unequal  but 
the  superior  quality  of  the  Roman  army  decided  the  battle. 
Hannibal  himself  with  difficulty  escaped  to  Carthage. 

Carthage  retained  her  local  independence,  but  without  her 
foreign  possessions  and  without  the  power  of  making  a  war 
unless  she  obtained  the  sanction  of  Rome.  She  surrendered 
her  navy  and  her  elephants,  gave  up  her  prisoners  and  the 
Roman  deserters,  and  promised  to  pay  a  war  indemnity  of 
about  $200,000  a  year  for  fifty  years. 

72.  The  Effect  of  the  War  upon  Rome.  —  Rome  had 
overcome  her  greatest  enemy  and  was  mistress  of  the  West. 
Spain  was  in  her  hands.  The  province  of  Sicily  included 
the  whole  island.  Her  unfaithful  subjects  in  Italy  were 
heavily  punished.  The  war  had  moreover  forced  her  into 
relations  with  the  further  East,  and  this  entailed  a  new 
policy.  Rome  had  now  entered  upon  the  career  of  empire 
in  which  there  was  no  stopping  until  the  whole  civilized 
world  was  united  under  her  rule. 

But  equally  important  changes  had  occurred  during  the 
war  and  began  to  show  themselves  soon  after  in  the  spirit 
and  character  of  the  Roman  people.  Enormous  losses  had 
been  suffered  and  at  the  same  time  vast  plunder  had  been 
secured.  The  losses  tended  to  fall  heavily  upon  the  poorer 
classes.  The  plunder  and  the  other  opportunities  of  the 
war  presented  the  almost  irresistible  temptation  of  sudden 
wealth  to  the  officers  and  the  classes  in  control  of  the  state. 
The  gulf  between  the  rich  and  the  poor  grew  wider  and 
wider.  Especially  did  the  small  farmer,  once  the  strength 
of  Rome,  tend  to  disappear,  and  the  great  farms  of  the  rich 
to  spread  themselves  over  the  country,  tilled  by  slaves  or 
by  the  once  independent  farmer  now  almost  a  serf.  The 
city  began  to  fill  up  with  an  unemployed  mob  —  the  prole- 
tariat,—  having  the  right  to  vote,  but  having  no  real  interest 
in  the  state  beyond  the  satisfaction  of  the  moment's  need 
or  passion.  Profuse  luxury  side  by  side  with  squalid  poverty 
became  a  common  sight.  Foreign  manners  and  modes  of 
thought  became  fashionable.     A  smattering  of  Greek  cult- 


§  72]  The  Effect  of  the  War  upon  Rome 


77 


ure,  which  no  one  tried  to  make  genuine  or  universal, 
served  only  to  mark  more  plainly  the  distinction  of  classes. 
Oriental  religions  and  superstitions  made  their  way  among 
the  people,  and  by  their  variety  and  by  the  extravagance 
of  their  counter  claims  taught  a  distrust  of  all  religion. 
Scipio,  by  his  love  of  luxury,  his  support  of  foreign  religions, 
and  his  contempt  for  the  forms  of  law,  was  a  power  on  the 
side  of  decay,  especially  harmful  because  of  his  really  great 
services  to  the  state.  His  famous  answer  to  a  constitutional 
objection :  "  If  all  the  Quirites  wish  to  make  me  sedile, 
I  am  old  enough,"  reveals  a  new  spirit  among  the  Romans, 
a  willingness  to  override  the  law  for  the  purpose  of  the 
moment,  which  should  help  us  to  understand  how  they  came 
in  the  end  to  lose  their  liberty.  Not  all  these  results  be- 
came evident  at  once,  but  the  currents  had  begun  to  set 
steadily  in  their  direction,  and  no  statesman  arose  to  turn 
them  aside.  Indeed,  no  statesman  could  have  persuaded 
the  Roman  people,  in  the  full  tide  of  success,  of  the  possi- 
bility of  any  danger  ahead. 


A  new 

attitude 
towards  the 
Jaw. 


Roman  Chariot  — A  Triumph 


yS  The  Struggle  for  Empire 


Topics 

The  beginning  of  the  conquest  of  Italy.  The  union  of  Italy  against 
Rome.  The  first  conflict  between  Romans  and  Greeks.  The  Roman 
colonies.  Rome's  policy  in  the  government  of  her  conquests.  Com- 
pare the  resources  of  Rome  and  Carthage  when  the  Punic  wars  began. 
Why  was  the  struggle  inevitable?  What  was  its  importance  in  history? 
How  did  the  Romans  gain  their  first  province?  Hannibal's  plans  and 
his  first  successes.  What  were  the  causes  of  his  final  failure?  The 
fall  of  Carthage.  The  effect  of  the  war  on  Rome's  foreign  policy. 
The  change  in  the  Roman  spirit,  socially  and  politically. 

Topics  for  Assigned  Studies 

The  position  and  power  of  Carthage.  Ihne,  Vol.  II.,  Chap.  I.  Momm- 
sen, Vol.  II.,  Book  III.,  Chap.  I. 

Hannibal's  passage  of  the  Alps.  Mommsen,  Vol.  II.,  pp.  259-265. 
Ihne,  II.  171-177.  Dodge,  Hannibal,  Chaps.  XV.  and  XVI. 
Livy,  XXI.  31-37.     Extracts  in  Indiana,  No.  5. 

Rome's  colonies  and  subject  communities.  Mommsen,  I.  438-443; 
II.  46-58.     Ihne,  I.,  pp.  541-549. 


CHAPTER  III 


THE  EMPIRE  COMPLETED.     ITS   EFFECT  ON   ROME 


73.  Ten  Years  of  Rapid  Expansion. — The  period  of 
seventy-five  years  which  followed  the  close  of  the  Second 
Punic  War  was  the  period  of  the  organization  of  Rome's 
empire.  In  the  year  200  she  was  really  mistress  of  the 
Mediterranean  lands,  but  her  rule  was  not  yet  undisputed. 
In  ten  years  more  every  state  bordering  on  the  sea  was 
reduced  to  the  condition  of  a  vassal  state. 

First  the  Gallic  tribes  of  north  Italy  were  taken  in  hand 
and  the  Roman  frontier  carried  to  the  Alps.  A  rebellion  in 
Spain  was  put  down  and  the  country  organized  in  two 
provinces.  Within  four  years  Philip  of  Macedon  was  beaten 
in  the  battle  of  Cynoscephalae  and  forced  to  make  a  treaty 
by  which  he  surrendered  all  his  possessions  outside  of 
Macedon,  and  agreed  that  Rome  should  control  his  foreign 
policy.  The  Romans  then  issued  a  proclamation  restoring 
their  independence  to  all  the  Greek  states  —  an  indepen- 
dence more  nominal  than  real.  The  wise  steps  which  the 
Carthaginians  had  begun  to  take  towards  financial  and  com- 
mercial prosperity  excited  the  fear  of  the  Romans,  and  they 
insisted  upon  the  expulsion  of  Hannibal,  who  took  refuge 
at  the  court  of  Antiochus  III.  of  Syria.  Antiochus  had  now 
to  choose  between  war  and  submission.  He  was  not  yet 
ready  for  submission  and  invaded  Greece  apparently  with 
the  intention  of  striking  the  first  blow,  but  his  inferior  army 
was  defeated  at  Thermopylae,  and,  pursued  into  Asia  Minor, 
was  beaten  again  near  Ephesus.  Antiochus  was  finally 
obliged  to  accept  humiliating  terms.     Hannibal  fled  to  the 

79 


Conquests 
east  and 
west, 
200-190  B.C. 


Macedon 
subject  to 
Rome. 


Greece 
independent. 
Mommsen, 
Vol.  II., 
p.  436. 


War  carried 
into  Asia.. 


8o 


The  Empire  Completed 


[§§  74,  75 


The  fate  of 

Hannibal. 

Mommsen, 

Vol.  II., 

pp.  482-483 ; 

Ihne, 

III.  186-188; 

Livy, 

XXXIX.  51. 

Greece  a 

Roman 

province, 

Mommsen, 

Vol.  III., 

pp.  270-272 ; 

Ihne,  III. 

315-317; 
Holm,  His- 
tory of  Greece  % 
IV.,  Chap. 
XIX. 

Carthage 
destroyed, 
Mommsen, 
III.  256-258; 
Ihne,  III. 
361-366; 
Plutarch, 
Life  of  Scipio 
sEmi/ianus. 


The  first 
province  in 
Asia. 

Form  of  the 

provincial 

government 


king  of  Bithynia,  but  found  he  could  end  the  pursuit  of  the 
Romans  only  by  taking  his  own  life.  Egypt  had  already 
allied  herself  with  Rome  in  a  way  that  meant  practical  sub- 
mission. The  whole  coast  of  the  Mediterranean  was  now 
under  the  rule  of  Rome,  though  she  had  as  yet  made  no 
annexations  outside  of  Sicily,  Sardinia,  and  Spain. 

74.  The  Close  of  Greek  History.  — Twenty  years  later 
Perseus,  king  of  Macedonia,  abler  than  his  father,  began  to 
take  steps  towards  the  recovery  of  his  independence,  and 
brought  on  the  Third  Macedonian  War,  but  he  was  speedily 
subdued,  and  the  kingdom  of  Macedonia  came  to  an  end. 
Twenty  years  later  still,  Greece  again  revolted  under  the 
lead  of  the  Achaean  League,  but  the  attempt  was  hopeless. 
Corinth  was  sacked  by  a  Roman  army  and  Greece  made 
practically  a  province.  Just  before  this  date  Rome  had 
satisfied  her  long  hatred  of  Carthage  by  an  unworthy  ven- 
geance. The  city  made  a  heroic  defence,  but  in  vain,  and 
was  totally  destroyed.  About  the  middle  of  the  century  a 
series  of  revolts  breaking  out  in  Spain,  supported  by  the 
still  unsubdued  tribes,  occupied  the  Romans  for  nearly 
twenty  years  and  were  closed  by  the  famous  siege  of 
Numantia,  which  demanded  Rome's  best  general,  Scipio 
^milianus,  the  destroyer  of  Carthage.  Roman  annexations 
in  the  further  East,  as  distinguished  from  the  ruling  of  vassal 
states,  were  begun  when  Pergamus  was  left  as  a  legacy  to 
the  republic  by  the  last  king  of  that  country.  This  territory 
was  made  the  province  of  Asia. 

75.  Abuses  in  Rome's  Provincial  Government. — The 
Roman  Republic  was  more  successful  in  making  conquests 
than  in  governing  them  afterwards.  Her  system  of  provin- 
cial government  provided  for  a  governor  and  a  staff  of 
officials  sent  out  from  the  city  with  practically  unlimited 
powers  and  held  to  no  real  responsibility.  Rome  continued 
to  allow,  as  she  had  in  her  Italian  conquests,  a  considerable 
amount  of  local  independence,  and  her  rule  brought  with  it 
a  degree  of  security  never  before  enjoyed,  together  with  the 
extinction  of  war.     But  these  advantages  were  purchased 


§76] 


The  Abases  affect  Rome  herself 


81 


by  heavy  taxation  and  financial  oppression.  Rome  sup- 
ported her  government  and  almost  her  citizens  at  the  cost 
of  the  provincials.  The  method  of  collecting  the  taxes 
increased  the  burden  unnaturally.  The  right  of  collecting 
the  taxes  of  a  province  was  sold  at  an  auction  in  Rome,  and 
the  tax  collector,  or  publican,  paying  to  the  government  a 
sum  in  advance,  had  the  authority  of  the  state  behind  him 
in  extorting  from  the  provincials  enough  to  cover  his  invest- 
ment and  such  profits  as  he  might  consider  satisfactory. 
The  temptation  to  governor  and  publican  to  make  common 
cause  and  divide  the  spoils  was  almost  irresistible,  and, 
though  a  special  court  was  early  established  at  Rome  for  the 
trial  of  officers  on  charges  of  extortion,  the  juries  were 
drawn  from  the  class  which  furnished  the  governors,  sym- 
pathized with  the  accused,  and  soon  showed  themselves 
open  to  gross  bribery. 

76.  The  Abuses  affect  Rome  herself.  —  The  spoil  of  the 
provinces  poured  into  Rome  through  many  channels.  All 
citizens  shared  in  it  through  the  relief  from  taxation.  All 
to  whom  a  special  opportunity  came  made  the  most  of  it 
for  their  personal  gain.  The  officer  who  returned  from  his 
province  as  poor  as  he  went  out  was  rare.  The  corruption 
of  the  community  which  had  begun  in  the  Second  Punic 
War  went  on  rapidly  in  the  following  century.  The  rich 
were  growing  always  richer  and  manifesting  their  wealth  in 
a  constantly  increasing  luxury.  The  public  lands  continued 
to  be  absorbed  into  great  estates.  The  poor  were  falling 
into  a  more  and  more  hopeless  proletariat.  The  trench- 
ant criticism  of  the  elder  Cato,  unaccompanied  by  any 
practicable  measure  of  reform,  availed  nothing.  In  a  very 
large  measure  the  fall  of  Rome  —  the  beginning  in  the 
state  of  diseases  which  progressed  rapidly  without  check 
—  was  due  to  the  fact  that  she  could  not  establish  what  we 
should  call  a  reformed  civil  service  —  an  honest  and  un- 
selfish government  of  the  provinces,  seeking  chiefly  their 
advancement  and  prosperity. 

In  the  home  government,  before  the  close  of  the  second 


Taxation. 


Cicero's  Ora- 
tions against 
Verres  in 
translation  in 
Bohn,  Vol.  I. 
Also  extracts 
in  Indiana, 
No.  6,  and 
Fling,  No.  8. 


The  corrup- 
tion of  Ro- 
man life. 


82 


The  Empire  Completed 


[§76 


Corruption 
of  the  gov- 
ernment 


century,  the  drift  had  begun,  steadily  though  unconsciously, 
towards  monarchy.  The  democratic  public  assembly  of  a 
city  could  hardly  in  any  case  manage  the  government  of  an 
empire.  The  Senate,  forming  a  new  nobility,  half  of  the 
old  patrician  families,  half  of  the  new  plebeian  families  who 
had  risen  to  high  office,  drew  into  its  hands  almost  the 
entire  control  of  the  imperial  policy  and  government,  while 


Gladiatorial  Combat 


the  mass  of  the  citizens  occupied  themselves  more  and  more 
exclusively  with  attempts  to  improve  their  economic  condi- 
tion, and  to  limit  the  abuses  on  the  part  of  the  wealthy 
from  which  they  suffered.  It  was  an  ideal  condition  for  the 
rise  to  absolute  power  of  a  demagogue  who  should  feed  the 
citizens  with  bribes,  overawe  the  Senate,  and  stand  ready  to 
violate  the  constitution.  The  especially  important  thing  to 
notice  in  the  next  stage  of  Roman  history  is  the  gradual 
preparation  for  the  Caesars. 


§§  77  >  78]  Cains  Gracchus  83 

77.  Tiberius    Gracchus.  —  The   methods   by  which   the   The  reforms 
two  brothers  Tiberius  and  Caius  Gracchus  tried  to  carry  q^j  • 
through  their  reforms  mark  a  long  step  in  the  fall  of  the   Beesly,  The 
Republic,  though  this  was  far  from  their  intention.    With  the    Gracchi, 
purest  motives  and  the  highest  patriotism,  they  accomplished   s^[/"s'  a* 
no  permanent  good,  but  aided  in  the  further  corruption  of  (Epochs) ; 
the  citizens  and   showed  the  way  to  future  demagogues.    Mommsen, 
The  chief  object  of  the  reforms  of  T.  Gracchus  was  to   ch'aps."n. 
recover  the  public  lands  from  those  who  unjustly  held  them,   and  III.; 
and  to  employ  them  for  the  relief  of  the  poorer  classes  of  y^6'?' 
the  capital  by  colonization.     This  plan  of  course  excited   n.  and  VI.; 
the  most  bitter  opposition,  and  it  was  carried  at  last  only  in   Plutarch, 

a  way  which  shows  how  easy  it  was  then,  as  it  is  always,  in  ^^j*/' 
the  violence  of  party  conflict,  with  the  best  intentions,  to    Cuius 
inflict  an  injury  on  the  state   more  deadly  than  the  evil    Gracchus. 
which  the  reform  would  cure.     Octavius,  the  colleague  of  The  purpose 
Gracchus  in  the  tribuneship,  interposed  his  veto  to  prevent  of  Tlbenus> 
the  passage  of  the  law.     The  act  was  plainly  in  the  interests 
of  the  rich,  but  it  was  a  strictly  constitutional  act,  and  the 
people  had  a  constitutional  remedy  by  waiting  till  another 
election.     But  this  Gracchus  was  not  willing  to  do,  since 
by  the  same  constitution  he  would  then  be  out  of  office. 
When  his  colleague  refused  to  yield  to  persuasion,  Gracchus  The  tribune 
had  the  assembly  declare  that  when  a  tribune  refused  to   (pctaviuf 

J  deposed. 

obey  the  will  of  the  people  he  vacated  his  office,  and  he   Mommsen, 
justified  this  action  on  the  ground  that  the  people  had  a  Vo1-  in->  PP- 
right  to  control  their  officers.     No  longer  single  step  was  322'  35  ' 
ever  taken  than  this  towards  the  destruction  of  liberty  and 
the  establishment  of  absolute  government  at  Rome.     What 
could  be  done  for  a  good  cause  could  be  done  for  a  bad 
one,  and  angry  passion  under  demagogic  lead  never  makes 
distinctions.     This  act  meant  that  the  Romans  were  grow- 
ing unwilling  to  govern  themselves,  and  were  losing  their 
respect  for  the  institutions  which  secured  their  liberty. 

78.  Caius  Gracchus.  —  Tiberius  Gracchus  lost  his  life  in 
a  riot  excited  by  the  Senate,  the  first  in  the  series  of  appeals 
to  force  which  led  in  the  end  to  the  direct  use  of  the  army 


84 


The  Empire  Completed 


[§78 


to  decide  political  rivalries  in  Rome.  The  cause  of  reform, 
however,  was  taken  up  ten  years  later  by  his  brother,  Caius 
Gracchus,  whose  plans  were  much  more  extensive  and  far- 
reaching.  This  involved  not  merely  the  agrarian  legislation  of 
Tiberius,  but  also  a  reduction  of  the  power  of  the  Senate  and 
an  enlargement  of  that  of  the  people.  Our  knowledge  of 
the  fate  of  his  proposals  is  not  complete,  but  a  considerable 
number  of  them  seem  to  have  been  adopted  at  least  tem- 
porarily. Of  one  thing  we  are  sure,  that  in  his  effort  to 
secure  popular  support  for  his  measures  he  resorted  to 
direct  bribery  of  the  people  in  his  corn  law.     The  state  had 


A  Ballista,  Time  of  Caesar 


been  for  some  time  selling  corn  at  wholesale  prices  to  citi- 
zens. Caius  proposed  to  reduce  the  price  to  about  one- 
half  the  average.  Taxation  of  the  provinces  would  make 
good  the  loss.  The  people  of  Rome  would  gain  the  benefit. 
If  this  plan  was  to  aid  in  the  ruin  of  the  small  farmer  and  to 
drive  him  into  the  city  to  swell  the  proletariat,  Caius  prob- 
ably did  not  foresee  it,  nor  the  other  natural  result  that  one 
demagogue  would  inevitably  bid  against  another  till  at  last 
the  city  would  be  supporting  an  unemployed  mob,  a  great 
voting  machine  run  for  the  benefit  of  the  highest  bidder  or 
the  moment's  favorite,  and  serving  as  the  foundation  of  his 
rule  of  the  state.     Caius  perished  as  his  brother  had  of  mob 


§  78]  Cains  Gracchus  85 

violence,  and  his  measures  led  to  no  permanent  reforms,  but 
the  age  of  revolution  had  opened  with  bribery,  plain  viola- 
tion of  the  constitution,  and  direct  appeal  to  force. 

Topics 

Rome's  conquests  between  200  and  190  B.C.  The  end  of  indepen- 
dent Greek  history.  The  first  province  in  the  East.  The  character  of 
Rome's  provincial  government.  Effect  upon  Rome  herself,  in  life  and 
in  government.  The  objects  sought  by  Tiberius  Gracchus.  By  Caius 
Gracchus.  State  fully  the  three  steps  towards  revolution  taken  in  con- 
nection with  their  measures. 


Topics  for  Assigned  Studies 

Rome's  methods  of  provincial  government.  Mommsen,  II.  208-214; 
III.  29-35;  IV-  lS1~1^-  Ihne,  IV.  197-208.  How  and  Leigh, 
pp.  310-313.     Arnold,  Roman  Provincial  Administration,  Chap.  II. 

The  elder  Cato.  Plutarch,  Life  of  Cato.  Ihne,  IV.  324-337.  Momm- 
sen, III.  45-55. 

Changes  and  problems  in  Rome.  Mommsen,  Vol.  III.,  Book  III., 
Chaps.  XI.-XIII.,  especially  pp.  104-128.  Ihne,  IV.,  Chap.  XII. 
How  and  Leigh,  Chaps.  XXX.  and  XXXI. 


CHAPTER   IV 


THE   FALL  OF  THE   REPUBLIC 


Both  parties 
too  selfish  to 
guide. 


The  Jugur- 
thine  War, 
I 12-106  B.C. 
Sallust, 
Jugurtha, 
extracts  in 
Fling,  No.  8 ; 
Ihne,  V., 
Chap.  VIII.; 
Mommsen, 
III.  388-409. 


79.  No  Patriotic  Leadership  in  Rome.  —  The  overthrow 
of  the  Gracchi  was  the  triumph  of  the  aristocracy.  The 
Senate  was  really  best  fitted  to  govern  Rome  in  this  age  of 
its  history,  but  it  was  without  definite  policy  except  to 
retain  power  and  to  enrich  its  members,  and  it  proved 
itself  unable  to  meet  the  crises  which  arose,  or  to  prevent 
the  drift  towards  one-man  power.  On  the  other  hand  the 
democracy  was  equally  without  a  policy  and  without  leader- 
ship, and  became  the  ready  tool  of  the  demagogue,  whether 
he  was  of  the  democratic  or  of  the  aristocratic  party. 

80.  Jugurtha  measures  Rome's  Corruption.  — The  events 
which  follow  in  rapid  succession  serve  only  to  reveal  the 
universal  corruption  and  the  lack  of  capable  leadership. 
Jugurtha,  grandson  of  Massinissa,  the  Numidian  king  and 
ally  of  the  Romans  against  Carthage,  ambitious  and  un- 
scrupulous, killed  one  brother,  seized  his  share  of  Numidia, 
and  attacked  his  other  brother.  One  commission  after 
another,  sent  to  arrange  matters,  returned  to  Rome  heavily 
bribed.  Finally  Jugurtha  was  summoned  to  Rome  and 
escaped  by  further  bribery  there,  but  venturing  to  go  so 
far  as  to  murder  a  rival  in  the  city,  he  was  expelled.  The 
words  which  he  is  said  to  have  uttered  as  he  departed  : 
"City  where  everything  is  to  be  bought,  awaiting  only  a 
purchaser  to  sell  herself,"  whether  spoken  by  Jugurtha  or 
not,  show  at  least  that  some  one  not  long  after  read  the  case 
aright.  The  war  itself  in  which  Jugurtha  was  destroyed  is 
of  interest  only  from  the  rapid  rise  of  the  plebeian  soldier 

86 


§§8 1, 82]    Causes  and  Results  of  Social  War  87 

Marius  to  the  consulship  and  to  a  fatal  popularity  with  the   Marius. 

Roman  people.  Mommsen, 

81.  The  First   German   Invasion. — Before   the   fall   of  Bk.iv.,' 
Jugurtha,  a  great  danger  had  begun  to  threaten  Rome  from   Chap.  vi. ; 
the  north,  which  it   required   all   the   real  generalship   of  ^1£tar£h' 
Marius  to  repel.     The   Cimbri,  a  German  tribe,  had   ap-  Marius. 
peared  on  the  borders  of  Italy  with  their  families  and  house-   The  Cimbri 
hold  possessions,  seeking  a  new  home  in  which  to  dwell,  the  and  Teu" 
advance  guard  of  the  great  flood  of  Germans  which  was  in   IOI  B[c# 
after  centuries  to  sweep  away  the  Roman  power.     Defeating 

first  one  Roman  army  and  then  another,  they  turned  off 
into  Gaul  for  a  time,  where  they  were  joined  by  other  tribes. 
Fearful  of  their  return,  and  believing  no  one  but  Marius 
able  to  deal  with  them,  the  Roman  people  kept  him  in  the 
consulship  for  four  successive  years.  That  this  was  contrary 
to  the  constitution  did  not  now  seem  a  serious  objection. 
Finally,  having  carefully  prepared  his  troops  and  skilfully 
chosen  his  ground,  he  defeated  the  invaders  in  two  great 
battles,  the  Teutones  at  Aquae  Sextise  and  the  Cimbri  near 
Vercellae.  Marius  then  returned  to  Rome  ambitious  of  Marius'  sixth 
civil  distinctions  and  by  an  alliance  with  a  demagogue  of  consulshlP- 
the  worst  type,  Saturninus,  he  secured  a  sixth  consulship. 
But  he  was  hardly  ready  to  go  the  length  demanded  by  his 
associates,  and  by  his  hesitation  and  his  vacillation  in  deal- 
ing with  the  mob  he  lost  the  respect  and  support  of  both 
parties,  and  fell  from  power. 

82.  The  Causes  and  Results  of  the  Social  War.  — In  the 
meantime  a  danger  was  coming  upon  Rome  greater  than 

any  that  had  yet  threatened  her.  The  allies  of  Rome  in  The  allies 
Italy,  really  her  subjects,  had  long  furnished  her  armies  demand 
and  borne  the  burden  of  her  campaigns.  But  they  were  ex- 
cluded from  the  citizenship  and  so  from  a  full  share  in  the 
spoils  of  war.  For  a  generation  or  more  various  efforts  had 
been  made  to  open  to  them  the  franchise,  but  these  had  all 
failed.  The  Roman  people  seemed  determined  to  keep  to 
themselves  the  monopoly  of  their  privileges.  The  last 
failure,  that  of  the  tribune  Livius  Drusus  in  the   year  91, 


88 


The  Fall  of  the  Republic 


83,84 


left  behind  it  among  the  allies  the  feeling  that  peaceable 
means  were  useless,  that  the  reform  must  be  gained  by  arms 
if  gained  at  all. 

The  allies  rose  in  the  year  following  the  murder  of 
Drusus.  Rome  was  almost  surrounded  by  a  chain  of 
rebels.  Their  army  was  as  large  as  hers.  It  was  as  well 
drilled  and  at  first  better  led.  So  great  was  the  danger  of 
their  complete  success  that  Rome  at  last  resolved  to  make 
concessions  to  avoid  being  forced  to  yield  everything. 
Near  the  end  of  the  year  the  franchise  was  granted  to  the 
Latins  and  to  all  the  allies  who  had  not  rebelled  or  who  had 
submitted,  and  the  next  year  it  was  granted  to  all  who 
Would  submit  and  apply  for  it  within  two  months.  These 
concessions  brought  the  war  to  an  end  except  with  the 
Samnites,  the  old  enemies  of  Rome,  who  perhaps  were 
fighting  for  independence,  but,  though  they  could  prolong 
the  struggle,  it  was  a  hopeless  one  and  they  were  at  last 
forced  to  submit. 

83.  The  First  Step  towards  a  New  Nation.  —  Roman 
citizenship  was  now  open  practically  to  all  Italians  who 
wished  it,  though  it  must  be  exercised  in  Rome.  Under 
this  arrangement  the  various  peoples  of  Italy  began  to  grow 
into  a  common  nationality,  one  in  feelings  and  interests. 
Some  independence  of  local  government  still  remained 
to  them,  but  they  had  henceforth  larger  interests.  The 
triumphs  of  Rome  and  her  empire  were  theirs.  It  was  a 
foreshadowing  of  the  condition  of  things  which  Rome  was 
one  day  to  establish  throughout  the  whole  civilized  world  in 
the  common  citizenship  of  the  empire  and  the  Romaniza- 
tion  of  her  subjects.  It  was  also  in  a  slighter  degree  a 
foreshadowing  of  the  modern  nation  which  the  ancient  world 
had  never  known,  with  all  the  population  of  the  state  equally 
members  of  it,  and  with  no  distinction  of  city  and  country. 
This  situation  was  never  quite  reached  in  Roman  Italy,  but 
the  results  of  the  Social  War  were  a  long  step  towards  it. 

84.  Fierce  Party  Strife.  —  Marius,  discredited  by  his 
failures  as  a  political  leader,  had  not  recovered  himself  in 


84] 


Fierce  Party  Strife 


89 


the  Social  War,  but  a  new  soldier  had  arisen  to  popularity 
by  success,  Sulla,  who  had  acquired  his  first  fame  as  a 
lieutenant  of  Marius  in  the  war  with  Jugurtha.  The  next 
stage  in  the  fall  of  Rome  is  the  struggle  between  these  two 
for  the  command  in  the  war  with  Mithridates. 


The  rivalry 
of  Marius 
and  Sulla. 
Beesly,  The 
Gracchi, 
Marius,  and 
Sulla 


The  Coliseum 


The  protection  of  Rome's  long  frontier  entailed  upon  her 
a  constant  succession  of  small  wars  with  barbarian  tribes, 
and  occasionally  even  small  conquests  were  necessary,  as  in 
southeastern  Gaul,  but  for  nearly  a  generation  there  had 
been  no  foreign  war  with  any  strong  state.  Meanwhile, 
such  a  state  had  grown  up  in  the  kingdom  of  Pontus  around 
the  Black  Sea.  Mithridates  VI.  had  so  extended  his  origi- 
nal kingdom  that  his  interests  came  into  collision  with  those 
of  Rome  and  war  became  inevitable.     The  Social  War  was 


(Epochs) ; 
Plutarch, 
Life  of 
Sulla  ; 
Freeman, 
Sulla,  in 
Historical 
Essays, 
Vol.  II. 
The  kingdom 
of  Mithri- 
dates. 


90 


The  Fall  of  the  Republic 


[§85 


not  yet  ended  and  Rome  was  hardly  prepared  for  war  when 
it  began.  Mithridates  rapidly  overran  Asia  Minor,  ordered 
a  general  massacre  of  the  Italians  found  there,  forced  the 
passage  of  the  Hellespont  with  his  Black  Sea  fleets,  took 
possession  of  the  ^Egean  Sea,  and  entered  Greece  with  his 
armies,  where  some  of  the  states  went  over  to  his  side. 
The  heavy  exactions  and  oppression  of  the  Romans  in  the 
provinces  had  made  the  way  easy  for  Mithridates'  first 
successes. 

In  88,  Sulla,  who  was  of  the  aristocratic  party  of  the 
Senate,  was  made  consul  and  given  the  command  against 
Mithridates.  After  his  departure  for  his  army,  Marius 
appealed  to  the  mob  and  obtained  a  decree  transferring  the 
command  to  himself.  Sulla's  army,  however,  refused  to 
submit.  They  murdered  the  officers  who  brought  down 
the  new  orders  and  marched  upon  Rome.  There  was  no 
power  in  the  city  to  resist  them.  Marius  and  his  party 
were  driven  into  exile.  Some  laws  were  passed  to  strengthen 
the  position  of  the  Senate,  and  Sulla  departed  for  Greece  to 
carry  on  the  war. 

85.  The  Army  becomes  a  Political  Power. — This  was 
the  beginning  of  a  new  influence  in  Roman  history.  The 
army  had  entered  politics,  and  henceforth  questions  might 
be  decided  and  power  gained  in  the  city  by  military  force. 
The  way  for  this,  which  was  practically  the  last  step  to  the 
monarchy,  had  been  for  a  long  time  preparing  in  the  ap- 
peals to  physical  force,  to  the  mad  violence  of  the  mob, 
which  go  back  for  their  beginning  at  least  to  the  times  of 
the  Gracchi  and  which  had  become  more  frequent  of  late. 
Of  course,  the  possibility  of  such  appeals  to  force  rested 
still  further  back  upon  the  decline  of  the  early  Roman  re- 
spect for  the  laws  and  the  impatience  with  the  delay  of 
the  constitutional  way  of  doing  things  which  were  the 
ultimate  causes  of  the  overthrow  of  the  Republic.  If  the 
citizens  of  Rome  had  never  allowed  themselves  to  do  by 
violence  what  they  could  not  do  by  law,  the  appeal  to  the 
supreme  force,  to  the  army,  would  never  have  been  made. 


The  Roman  Forum  Restored 


92 


The  Fall  of  the  Republic  [§§  86,  87 


Change  in 
the  character 
of  the  army. 


Seeley,  The 
Great  Roman 
Revolution, 
in  Roman 
Imperialism 
(Roberts). 


Marius  again 
in  power. 


The  return  of 

Sulla, 

83  B.C. 


Sulla's 
reforms. 


It  should  be  remembered  that  by  this  time  the  character 
of  the  army  had  entirely  changed.  The  constant  warfare 
and  long  campaigns,  together  with  the  decline  of  the 
Roman  middle  class,  had  rendered  professional  soldiers 
necessary,  and  had  compelled  dependence  upon  allies  and 
subjects  for  the  bulk  of  the  army.  Citizen  armies  no 
longer  existed.  The  soldier,  looking  upon  the  military 
service  as  his  profession  and  career,  was  devoted  entirely 
to  his  commander,  indifferent  to  the  politics  of  the  city, 
and  formed  a  possible  support  to  despotism  entirely  lacking 
in  the  early  history  of  Rome. 

The  occupation  of  Rome  by  Sulla's  army  was  really  the 
fall  of  the  Republic,  but  some  further  time  was  necessary 
before  the  fact  was  fully  realized.  The  next  fifty  years,  to 
the  final  triumph  of  Augustus,  is  a  succession  of  contests 
between  individual  leaders,  settled  by  civil  war,  in  which  suc- 
cess depends  upon  military  genius  and  the  strength  of  armies. 

86.  Civil  War  and  the  M  Proscriptions."  —  In  the  course 
of  three  years,  Sulla  defeated  the  armies  of  Mithridates  in 
two  great  battles,  and  forced  him  back  into  his  Asian  king- 
dom. But  his  departure  from  Rome  had  been  followed  by 
the  almost  immediate  renewal  of  civil  strife.  The  consul 
Cinna,  attempting  to  recall  the  Marian  exiles,  was  expelled 
after  desperate  fighting  and  illegally  deposed.  He  returned 
at  once  with  an  army,  accompanied  by  Marius,  and  seized 
the  city.  Then  followed  a  systematic  butchery  of  the 
leaders  of  the  opposite  party  and  a  reign  of  terror  in  the 
city.  Marius  died  in  a  few  weeks,  and  Cinna  shortly  be- 
fore the  landing  of  Sulla  in  Italy  in  83,  but  the  position  of 
their  party  was  so  strong  that  the  struggle  which  ended  with 
the  occupation  of  Rome  by  Sulla  was  a  real  war  lasting 
about  two  years.  Sulla  followed  the  example  set  him  by 
Marius  but  in  a  somewhat  more  regular  way,  posting  up 
lists  of  those  who  were  to  be  killed,  the  "  proscriptions." 

87.  Sulla  really  the  First  Emperor.  —  Once  in  possession 
of  the  city  Sulla  had  himself  made  dictator  without  limit  of 
time,  to  reform  the  constitution.      Under  his  direction  a 


87] 


Sulla  really  the  First  Emperor 


93 


number  of  laws  was  passed  designed  to  establish  the  Senate 
firmly  in  the  government,  to  deprive  the  people  of  any  real 
control,  to  render  the  tribunes  powerless,  and  to  take  away 
the  privileges  of  the  knights.  But  Sulla's  changes  in  the 
constitution  were  not  permanent.  After  he  had  carried  them 
through  he  laid  down  his  dictatorship  to  the  surprise  of  the 
Romans,  and  retired  to  private  life  —  a  step  which  shows  how 
unconscious  even  the  leaders  in  the  movement  were  of  the 
change  which  was  taking  place  in  the  Roman  government. 

Topics 

Why  was  there  no  clear  party  policy  in  Rome  at  this  time?  What 
reasons  had  Jugurtha  for  his  opinion  of  Rome?  The  first  German  in- 
vasion. Its  effect  upon  Marius.  What  did  the  allies  of  Rome  demand? 
The  result  of  their  receiving  the  citizenship.  The  civil  wars  of  Marius 
and  Sulla.  The  first  use  of  the  army  in  party  strife.  How  had  the 
way  for  this  been  prepared?  Where  was  the  kingdom  of  Mithridates? 
What  were  the  proscriptions?     Were  Sulla's  measures  really  reforms? 

Topics  for  Assigned  Studies 

The  first  German  invasion.     Ihne,  V.,  Chap.   IX.      Mommsen,   III. 

430-451.     How  and  Leigh,  Chap.  XXXVI. 
Sulla's   constitutional   changes.     Ihne,   V.,   Chap.   XXI.     Mommsen, 

Vol.  IV.,  Book  IV.,  Chap.  X. 


Cjesar's  Bridge 


CHAPTER   V 


THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  OESARS 


Pompey. 
Mommsen, 

IV.  271-275, 
384, 444-448 ; 

V.  166,  365 ; 
Plutarch, 
Life  of 
Pompey. 

The  pirates. 
Mommsen, 
IV.  307-313. 


Julius 
Caesar. 
Fowler, 
Ccesar 
(Heroes)  ; 


88.  The  Rise  of  Pompey.  —  Following  Sulla  a  succession 
of  remarkable  men  contended  with  one  another  for  the 
possession  of  power,  with  the  strength  of  their  armies  and 
the  votes  of  the  proletariat  as  their  weapons,  while  the 
Senate  strove  in  vain  to  retain  the  direction  of  affairs. 
Pompey  was  the  first  of  these  men  to  achieve  distinction. 
He  had  laid  the  foundation  of  a  great  military  reputation 
with  the  people  by  the  aid  which  he  had  rendered  Sulla  in 
the  war  against  Marius.  This  he  had  built  up  by  overthrow- 
ing Sertorius,  a  partisan  of  Marius  who  had  raised  a  revolt 
in  Spain,  and  by  destroying  the  last  forces  of  the  revolted 
gladiators  who  had  risen  in  a  dangerous  rebellion  under 
Spartacus.  Still  later  he  had  swept  the  Mediterranean  clear 
of  the  pirates,  who  were  almost  an  organized  government 
and  terrorized  all  the  coasts  of  the  sea  with  their  great 
fleets.  Then  he  completed  the  overthrow  of  Mithridates 
and  reduced  his  kingdom  to  a  province,  and  captured 
Jerusalem  and  made  a  province  of  Syria.  Pompey  was  by 
birth  an  aristocrat  and  was  inclined  to  the  Senate,  but  he 
was  often  obliged  in  order  to  gain  his  ends  to  ally  himself 
with  the  party  of  the  people,  so  that  between  his  inclination 
and  his  interests  his  policy  was  vacillating  and  uncertain 
and  doomed  to  failure. 

89.  Caesar  and  Cicero.  —  Julius  Caesar  was  also  of  noble 
birth,  but  connected  by  marriage  with  the  party  of  Marius. 
He  was  highly  gifted  by  nature  as  a  soldier,  orator,  states- 
man, and  writer,  and  must  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  ablest 

94 


§§  90,  90 


Ccesar  and  Cicero 


95 


men  of  history.     He  seems  to  have  seen  clearly  from  the 
beginning   of  his   career  the   goal  to  which   events  were 
tending,  and  to  have  shaped  his  course  skilfully  and  with 
steady  purpose  to  make  him- 
self master  of  Rome. 

Cicero  was  not  of  a  family 
of  high  rank,  but  he  had 
made  a  position  for  himself 
by  his  power  as  an  orator, 
especially  by  his  prosecution 
of  Verres  for  his  extortions 
in  Sicily.  But  Cicero  was  a 
man  of  too  high  moral  and 
intellectual  cultivation  for  the 
violent  measures  by  which 
the  highest  power  must  be 
gained  in  Rome,  and  he  can 
hardly  be  called  a  rival  of 
Caesar  and  Pompey. 

90 .  The  First  Triumvirate. 
—  When  Pompey  returned 
from  the  East  in  61,  he 
formed  a  combination  with 
Caesar  and  Crassus, 


Julius  Caesar 


a  man 

who  had  made  himself  very  rich  by  the  purchase  of  con- 
fiscated estates  and  was  now  ambitious  of  political  honors, 
—  to  control  the  State  and  secure  for  each  of  them  what 
he  wanted.  Caesar  was  given  the  province  of  Gaul  for  five 
years  and  an  army,  which  was  what  he  especially  wished. 
This  command  was  later  extended,  and  Pompey  received 
Spain  and  Crassus  Syria,  where  he  was  killed  in  war  with 
the  Parthians.  In  these  years  Caesar  made  his  famous  con- 
quest of  Gaul,  and  invaded  Germany  and  even  Britain. 
More  to  his  own  purpose  was  it  that  he  learned  the  art  of 
war  and  trained  an  army  devotedly  attached  to  himself. 

91.    A  New  Civil  War.  — As  the  second  five  years  of  the 
Triumvirate  drew  to  a  close,  it  became  evident  that  one  of 


T.  A.  Dodge, 
Ccesar 
(Houghton, 
Military 
History)  ; 
Plutarch, 
Life  of 
Ccesar. 

Cicero. 
Church,  Ro- 
man Life  in 
the  Days  of 
Cicero. 


The  First 
Triumvirate. 
Merivale, 
The  Roman 
Triumvirates 
(Epochs)  ; 
Mommsen, 
IV.  504-508. 


96 


The  Beginning  of  the  Ccesars 


[§92 


The  crossing 
of  the  Rubi- 
con. Mom  Ri- 
sen, V.  190- 
192. 


The  battle  of 
Pharsalia, 
48  B.C. 


Monarchy 
the  only  alter- 
native to  civil 
war  and 
anarchy. 


the  two,  Caesar  or  Pompey,  must  go  down  before  the  other. 
Pompey  had  the  city  and  was  supported  by  the  Senate. 
Caesar  had  his  army,  but  by  law  he  could  not  use  it  outside 
his  province.  Caesar  endeavored  to  secure  a  continuance 
of  his  office  until  he  could  be  elected  consul,  and  so  be  able 
to  meet  Pompey  on  more  even  terms  in  Rome.  This 
Pompey  succeeded  in  preventing,  and  the  tribunes  who  had 
taken  Caesar's  part  were  driven  from  the  city.  Caesar  now 
judged  that  the  time  for  which  he  had  been  preparing  had 
come,  and  he  crossed  the  Rubicon,  the  boundary  line  of 
his  province,  and  marched  his  army  against  Rome.  Pompey 
was  taken  unprepared,  and  was  prevented  from  gathering 
a  sufficient  force  by  the  rapidity  of  Caesar's  movements. 
Within  a  few  weeks  Caesar  had  possession  of  Rome  and 
Italy,  and  Pompey  and  his  friends  had  been  driven  over 
into  Greece.  After  conquering  Pompey's  province  of  Spain, 
Caesar  crossed  into  Greece,  and  in  the  great  battle  of 
Pharsalia  destroyed  Pompey's  army.  Pompey  himself  fled 
to  Egypt  where  he  was  murdered,  and  Caesar  soon  gained 
all  the  provinces  and  was  master  of  the  Roman  world. 

92.  Monarchy  a  Necessity. —  Caesar's  possession  of  the 
supreme  power  was  short,  for  his  death  occurred  only  four 
years  after  the  battle  of  Pharsalia,  but  within  this  short 
period  he  showed  a  marvellous  ability  to  deal  with  the  politi- 
cal and  social  difficulties  of  the  state.  He  seems  to  have 
seen  clearly  that  any  government  which  would  give  order 
and  prosperity  to  the  Roman  world  must  now  be  a  mon- 
archy. In  this  he  was  quite  right.  The  people  and  the 
Senate  had  both  shown  themselves  entirely  incapable  of 
bringing  the  evils  of  the  time  to  an  end.  Their  changeable 
and  selfish  management  of  affairs  was,  indeed,  a  part  of 
the  evil  to  be  cured.  Masterful  and  permanent  government 
was  demanded,  and  no  form  of  government  had  as  yet  been 
devised  which  could  combine  centralization  and  a  definite 
and  continuous  policy  for  a  great  state  with  a  democratic 
constitution,  capable  of  holding  the  administration  to  a  real 
responsibility  to  the  people.     A  monarchy  was  the  only  pos- 


93] 


Ccesars  Measures 


97 


sibility,  and  this  Caesar  proposed  to  establish  in  some  form. 
He  had  himself 
made  dictator  for 
life ;  he  was  al- 
lowed to  retain  in 
Rome  the  title  and 
powers  of  the  im- 
perator,  that  is,  of 
the  general  in  the 
field;  and  he  was 
also  given  the  pow- 
ers of  the  tribune 
for  life. 

93.  Caesar's 
Measures. — Caesar 
used  his  powerwith 
great  moderation, 
and  showed  his 
intention  to  be  the 
head  of  the  state, 
and  not  merely  of 
a  party;  but  his 
will  was  law  in 
every  part  of  the 
government.  In 
the  reforms  which 
he  inaugurated  he 
showed  as  great  a 
genius  for  states- 
manship as  he  had 
for  war  in  his  con- 
quest of  Gaul. 
The  regulation  of 
the  currency,  the 
improvement  of 
the  condition  of 
the  small  farmer  and  of  the  free  laborer,  the  limitation  of  the 

H 


Caesar's 
reforms. 


Cleopatra,  with  her  Cartouche 


98 


The  Beginning  of  the  Ccesars 


[§94 


The  assassi- 
nation of 
Caesar. 
Shakspere, 
Julius  Ceesar 
(Drama). 


The  Second 
Triumvirate. 


Octavius  sole 
ruler,  31  B.C. 


food  distributions  to  the  poor  of  Rome,  the  relief  of  debtors, 
the  establishment  of  a  direct  responsibility  of  the  provincial 
governors  and  tax-collectors,  the  founding  of  citizen  colo- 
nies outside  of  Italy,  and  the  extension  of  the  Latin  right 
and  even  of  the  suffrage  to  provincial  towns,  —  these  are 
measures  which  give  evidence  of  wise  political  judgment  and 
of  a  desire  to  cure  the  evils  of  the  state. 

But  Caesar  was  not  allowed  to  carry  his  plans  to  comple- 
tion. Not  all  in  Rome  were  yet  convinced  that  the  mon- 
archy was  a  necessity.  A  conspiracy  was  formed  of  a 
variety  of  elements,  in  which  Brutus  represented  an  honest 
desire  to  reestablish  the  Republic  and  Cassius  personal  spite, 
and  Caesar  was  murdered  in  the  Senate  chamber  at  the  foot 
of  Pompey's  statue. 

94.  The  Second  Triumvirate.  —  But  the  Republic  was  not 
restored.  Marcus  Antonius,  one  of  Caesar's  officers,  roused 
the  fury  of  the  mob  by  his  oratory  and  expelled  the  con- 
spirators, but  he  failed  to  secure  Caesar's  power  for  him- 
self. The  young  Octavius,  Caesar's  heir,  returned  from  his 
school  in  Greece  and  rapidly  made  himself  powerful.  A 
new  triumvirate  was  formed  by  Antonius,  Octavius,  and 
Lepidus,  a  man  who  happened  at  the  time  to  be  at  the 
head  of  an  army.  In  the  proscriptions,  which  were  re- 
newed, Cicero  was  killed.  After  destroying  at  Philippi,  in 
Greece,  the  army  of  Brutus  and  Cassius,  the  triumvirate 
divided  the  Roman  world  between  them.  Such  an  arrange- 
ment could  only  be  temporary,  however,  and  in  a  final 
struggle  the  power  of  Antonius,  who  had  fallen  under  the 
spell  of  Cleopatra,  was  destroyed  at  Actium,  and  Octavius, 
who  had  previously  overcome  Lepidus,  became  sole  mas- 
ter of  the  empire  of  Rome. 


Topics 

The  services  of  Pompey  to  Rome.  Points  of  difference,  in  character 
and  policy,  between  Pompey,  Ceesar,  and  Cicero.  What  were  the  pur- 
poses of  the  first  triumvirate?  Why  did  Caesar  cross  the  Rubicon? 
Why  was   monarchy  now   necessary  for   the   government   of  Rome? 


Important  Dates  for  Review  99 

Caesar's  reforms.     Compare  these  with  Sulla's.     Why  was  Caesar  mur- 
dered?    How  did  Octavius  become  sole  ruler? 


Topics  for  Assigned  Studies 

The  character  of  Cicero.     Plutarch,  Life  of  Cicero.      Mommsen,  IV. 

470,  516;    V.  132-134,  503-507.      Davidson,   164-171,  426-429. 

Trollope,  Life  of  Cicero,  2  vols.  (Harper;   $3.00),  is  a  defence  of 

Cicero  against  Mommsen. 
Caesar's  measures  in  government.     Mommsen,  V.,  Chap.  XI.     Meri- 

vale,  Romans,  II.,  Chap.  XX. 

Topics  for  Studies  in  Review 

Compare  the  early  constitutional  development  of  Rome  with  that  of 
Athens  and  of  Sparta. 

Compare,  geographically,  the  conquests  of  Rome  with  those  of  Alex- 
ander. 

Sketch  the  intellectual  and  economic  changes  which  followed  the 
expansion  of  Rome's  empire  by  conquest.  Were  there  any 
similar  effects  in  Greek  history? 

Compare  the  position  and  power  of  Julius  Caesar,  after  the  fall  of 
Pompey,  with  those  of  a  Greek  tyrant. 

Compare  the  Greek  and  Roman  colonial  systems. 

In  Plutarch's  Lives  there  are  many  interesting  comparisons  between 
Greek  and  Roman  statesmen  and  soldiers.  Study  and  criticise 
some  of  these,  as,  for  example,  Aristides  and  Cato,  Alcibiades 
and  Coriolanus. 


Important  Dates  for  Review1 


B.C. 

B.C. 

5IO 

The  kings  expelled. 

5io 

The      tyrants      expelled 
from   Athens. 

494 

The  first  secession. 

490 

Battle  of  Marathon. 

45i 

Decemvirs  appointed 

431 

Peloponnesian   War  be- 

390 

Rome    captured  by 
Gauls. 

the 

gins. 

367 

The  Licinian  laws. 

1  Pupils  often  become  greatly  interested  in  the  making  of  comparative 
chronological  tables  for  themselves,  and  where  this  is  the  case  nothing  assists 
so  greatly  to  fix  the  skeleton  of  history  in  mind.  In  such  tables,  care  should 
be  taken  to  use  only  suggestive  facts,  which  recall  others  to  memory,  and 
not  to  insert  too  many  dates,  for  a  crowded  table  loses  its  usefulness. 


IOO 


The  Begin?ii?ig  of  the  Ccesars 


B.C. 

B.C. 

359 

Philip,    king    of    Mace 
donia. 

343 

First   Samnite    War  be- 
gins. 

323 

Death  of  Alexander. 

290 

End  of  the  Samnite  wars. 

280 

The  invasion  of  Pyrrhus. 

264 

First  Punic  War  begins. 

218 

Hannibal     crosses     the 
Alps. 

202 

Battle  of  Zama. 

184 

Censorship  of  Cato. 

146 

Destruction  of  Carthage 
and  of  Corinth. 

133-1 

21    The  Gracchi. 

in 

Jugurtha  in  Rome. 

IOO 

The  sixth  consulship  of 
Marius. 

81 

The  dictatorship  of  Sulla. 

49 
3i 

Caesar  crosses  the  Rubi- 
con. 
The  battle  of  Actium. 

PART    IV 

THE   ROMAN    WORLD-STATE     WITH  ITS 
FALL   AND  ITS  REVIVAL 


Books  for  Reference  and  Further  Reading 

Merivale,  The  Romans  tinder  the  Empire.  7  vols.  (Longmans; 
#15.00.)  (6  vols.  Appleton;  #12.00.)  From  the  death  of  Sulla 
to  180  a.d.     Fills  the  interval  between  Mommsen  and  Gibbon. 

Gibbon,  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire.  Edited  by  Bury. 
7  vols.  (Macmillan;  #14.00.)  Edited  by  Milman.  6  vols. 
(Harper;  #3.00.)  Still  of  value,  especially  in  Bury's  edition. 
Goes  to  1453. 

Bury,  The  Later  Roman  Empire.  2  vols.  (Macmillan;  #6.00.) 
From  395-800.  The  history  of  the  empire  in  the  West  briefly,  in 
the  East  more  in  detail.     Of  great  value. 

Hodgkin,  Italy  and  Her  Invaders.  6  vols.  (Clarendon  Press; 
#32.00.)  The  most  detailed  and  best  account  in  English  of  the 
conquest  by  the  Germans. 

Kingsley,  The  Roman  and  the  Teuton.  (Macmillan;  #1.25.)  Very 
interesting,  but  somewhat  idealized  history. 

Mommsen,  The  Provinces  of  the  Roman  Empire  from  Casar  to  Dio- 
cletian. 2  vols.  (Scribner  ;  #6.00.)  Organization,  government, 
and  condition. 

Kaufmann,  Deutsche  Geschichte.  2  vols.  (Leipzig;  15  M.)  Prob- 
ably the  best  narrative  history  in  German.  From  the  earliest 
times  to  814  A.D. 

Schaff,  History  of  the  Christian  Church.  6  vols.  (Scribner;  #24.00.) 
The  most  recent  detailed  history  in  English.     Full  bibliographies. 

Alzog,  Church  History.  3  vols.  (Robert  Clark  &  Co.;  #10.50.)  The 
best  in  English  from  the  standpoint  of  the  Catholic  church. 

Fisher,  History  of  the  Christian  Church.  (Scribner;  #3.50.)  A  valu- 
able one-volume  history. 

As  the  history  advances  into  the  medieval  period,  translations  from 
the  sources  become  less  accessible. 

101 


102  The  Empire  and  its  Decline 


Summary 

The  history  of  the  world  had  now  been  brought  into  one  cur- 
rent by  Rome.  The  period  of  the  Roman  Empire  beheld  the 
introduction  into  that  current  of  two  great  streams  of  new  in- 
fluence —  Christianity  and  the  Germans.  With  the  end  of  the 
Republic  the  age  of  Roman  conquest  was  finished.  The  work  of 
the  new  age  was  not  expansion,  but  it  was  to  assimilate  the  pro- 
vincials, to  make  of  all  the  West  one  great  Latin  nation  —  the 
East  was  already  Greek  —  and  to  perfect  the  laws  and  institu- 
tions by  which  all  the  empire  was  ruled.  This  work  went  on 
under  good  and  bad  emperors  alike,  and  at  the  end  of  three 
centuries  was  complete.  During  the  first  century  of  our  era, 
Rome  suffered  much  from  the  capricious  tyranny  of  the  em- 
perors, but  the  government  of  the  provinces  was  greatly  im- 
proved. The  second  century,  the  age  of  the  "  good  emperors," 
was  a  time  of  apparent  prosperity  till  near  its  close,  but  the  em- 
pire was  growing  weaker,  and  the  third  century  was  filled  with 
civil  strife  and  attacks  on  the  frontiers  which  were  resisted  with 
difficulty  and  not  always  with  success.  The  constitution  of  the 
empire,  which  had  been  growing  more  and  more  monarchical, 
was  completed  by  Diocletian  and  Constantine  at  the  close  of 
this  period,  and  became  that  of  a  highly  centralized  despotism. 
In  the  meantime  Christianity,  which  had  been  slowly  spreading 
over  the  empire  from  its  little  beginning  in  Palestine  in  the 
reign  of  Tiberius,  had  become  so  strong  that  Constantine  sought 
it  as  an  ally  in  his  struggle  for  the  throne.  Recognized  by  the 
state  the  progress  of  Christianity  was  now  very  rapid,  and  the 
church  began  to  assume  clearly  the  monarchical  constitution 
towards  which  it  was  already  tending.  In  the  fourth  century  also 
the  Germans  finally  entered  the  empire.  The  Visigoths,  fleeing 
before  the  Huns,  were  allowed  to  cross  the  Danube,  but  they 
quickly  arose  and  defeated  and  slew  the  emperor  Valens.  Theo- 
dosius  was  able  to  bring  them  to  submission  again,  but  it  was 
only  for  his  lifetime.  On  his  death,  under  their  young  king 
Alaric  they  invaded  both  Greece  and  Italy.  Soon  after,  the 
Rhine  was  crossed  by  a  number  of  tribes  who  held  Gaul  and 


Summary  103 

Spain  at  their  mercy,  and  Rome  was  sacked  by  Alaric.  This 
was  the  first  invasion,  after  which  the  authority  of  the  Western 
Empire  was  never  restored.  It  left  southern  Gaul  and  Spain  in 
the  possession  of  the  Visigoths ;  eastern  Gaul  under  the  Bur- 
gundians  and  northeastern  under  the  Franks ;  and  Africa  in  the 
hands  of  the  Vandals ;  while  a  union  of  tribes  ruled  Italy  under 
Odovakar.  But  a  second  invasion  soon  followed.  The  Franks 
under  Clovis  spread  out  from  the  Rhine  valley  in  both  direc- 
tions, gradually  occupying  all  Gaul  and  central  Germany.  The 
Anglo-Saxons  occupied  Britain.  The  Ostrogoths  under  Theo- 
doric  invaded  Italy  and  made  it  the  seat  of  a  most  promising 
kingdom.  His  successors  were  not  able  to  maintain  its  strength, 
however,  and  when  a  revival  of  the  Eastern  Empire  came  under 
Justinian  it  fell,  as  did  the  kingdom  of  the  Vandals  in  Africa. 
Justinian's  best  title  to  fame,  however,  is  not  derived  from  his 
conquests  but  from  his  codification  of  the  Roman  law.  The 
law  had  been  given  a  perfected  form  by  the  scientific  lawyers  of 
the  second  century,  and  it  was  now  brought  together  into  a 
systematized  shape  which  made  its  preservation  for  the  future 
easy.  This  new  Roman  occupation  of  Italy  lasted  but  a  few 
years.  The  Lombards,  another  German  tribe,  conquered  the 
most  of  it,  but  left  fragments  here  and  there  under  the  Roman 
governor.  Upon  this  fact  hinged  the  history  of  the  future. 
One  of  these  fragments  was  Rome  and  a  little  territory  about  it. 
Difficulty  of  communication  with  the  governor,  whose  seat  was  at 
Ravenna,  threw  the  political  rule  of  this  territory  more  and  more 
into  the  hands  of  the  pope.  His  power  in  the  church  had 
already  become  almost  definitely  monarchical,  and  now  he  be- 
came the  sovereign  of  a  little  temporal  state.  The  Lombards, 
however,  could  not  give  up  the  hope  of  possessing  Rome,  and 
were  pressing  towards  its  capture  at  every  favorable  moment. 
The  popes  could  not  hope  for  aid  from  the  Eastern  emperors,  — 
they  were  more  often  than  not  quarrelling  with  them  on  some 
point  of  doctrine,  —  and  they  naturally  turned  to  the  most  pow- 
erful German  state  of  the  West,  the  Franks.  The  period  which 
followed  Clovis  had  been  one  of  decline.  His  descendants  had 
soon  lost  physical  strength  and  moral  character,  and  in  their 
weak  hands  the  empire  he  had  founded  threatened  to  fall  to 


104  The  Empire  and  its  Decline 

pieces.  It  was  reestablished  by  the  rise  of  a  new  family,  the 
Carolingian,  of  great  energy  and  political  ability.  The  way  for 
an  alliance  with  the  papacy  had  been  opened  at  the  conversion 
of  Clovis  when  he  adopted  Catholic,  or  organized  Christianity, 
in  place  of  the  Arian,  or  separatist  form.  Pippin  the  Short,  now 
ready  to  assume  the  crown  of  the  Franks,  needed  the  aid  of  the 
pope,  and  the  alliance  was  soon  concluded.  Pippin  became 
king,  and  the  advance  of  the  Lombards  was  checked.  This 
connection  with  Italy  and  the  papacy  was  drawn  still  more  close 
by  Pippin's  son,  Charlemagne.  Italy  was  an  important  link  in 
his  great  empire,  which  included  all  western  Europe  except 
Spain,  which  the  Arabs  still  ruled  as  a  result  of  the  wonderful 
impulse  which  had  been  given  to  their  tribes  by  the  new  reli- 
gion of  Mohammed.  The  union  of  all  the  West  under  Charle- 
magne and  the  strong  centralization  with  which  he  ruled  it, 
made  the  revival  of  the  title  emperor  of  Rome  seem  a  natural 
step  to  all  the  world.  On  Christmas  day  800  Charlemagne  was 
crowned  in  Rome  by  the  pope. 


95] 


Character  of  Early  Empire 


105 


A  Street  in  Pompeii 


CHAPTER    I 


THE  EMPIRE  AND   ITS   DECLINE 


95.  The  Character  of  the  Early  Empire.  —  His  victory  at 
Actium  made  Octavius  undisputed  master  of  the  Roman 
world.  The  form  of  government  which  he  established, 
following  the  model  made  by  Julius  Caesar,  was  a  new  and 
peculiar  type  of  monarchy  in  history.  But  it  was  a  very 
natural  form  for  a  monarchy  created  by  the  slow  and  un- 
conscious transformation  of  a  republic.  For  a  generation 
or  two  longer,  it  might  perhaps  have  been  easy  for  a  Roman 
to  persuade  himself  that  no  great  change  had  been  made. 
The  old  magistrates  continued  to  be  elected  as  usual.  The 
assemblies  still  met  and  made  laws.     The  Senate  still  exer- 


Octavius 
emperor. 
The 

character  of 
the  Empire. 
The  Monu- 
mentum 
Ancyranum, 
translated, 
Perm.  V., 
No.  I. 


io6 


The  Empire  and  its  Decline 


[§96 


Capes, 
The  Early 
Empire 
(Epochs)  ; 
Bury,  The 
Roman 
Empire, 
H.C.  27  to 
A.D.  180 

(Student's 

Series, 

Harpers). 


The  constitu- 
tional 
position  of 
the  emperor. 
Merivale, 
Romans, 
Chap.  XXXI. 


"Emperor" 
means 
"  general." 


cised  its  functions  of  general  direction  and  administration. 
The  only  difference,  and   this  would  not  seem   a  striking 

difference  to  the  Roman 
who  remembered  the  recent 
past,  was  that  a  citizen  who 
held  no  formal  office  con- 
trolled everything  as  he 
chose.  But  this  was  a  wise 
and  beneficent  control,  as 
it  seemed  to  the  Romans. 
Civil  war  and  the  strife  of 
parties  came  to  an  end. 
Life  and  property  were  se- 
cure, and  such  peace  reigned 
within  the  Empire  and  on 
the  frontiers  as  the  oldest 
could  not  remember.  It 
was  a  change  which  no  one 
could  regret,  and  yet  it  car- 
ried with  it  the  destruction 
of  the  Republic,  and  the 
establishment  of  an  absolute  monarchy. 

96.  Constitutional  Forms. — The  constitutional  form  of 
the  early  Empire  has  already  been  described.  Without 
holding  formally  any  of  the  offices,  Octavius  had  the  powers 
of  each  conferred  upon  himself,  so  that  he  was  a  kind  of 
informal  and  supplementary  consul,  tribune,  and  censor. 
More  important  still  was  the  fact  that  he  was  allowed  to 
retain  and  exercise  in  the  city  the  powers  of  the  general  in 
the  field  at  the  head  of  the  army,  the  imperator.  This  was 
the  office  which  in  the  end  gave  its  name  to  the  new  mon- 
archy, and  has  come  down  to  us  as  the  monarchical  title  of 
highest  dignity,  emperor.  The  family  name  of  Caesar  also 
became  a  title  for  the  monarch,  and  still  exists  in  two  of  the 
greatest  of  modern  states  as  Kaiser  and  Czar.  To  Octavius 
was  given  the  title  Augustus,  by  which  he  is  generally 
known,  and  this  passed  also  to  the  succeeding  emperors. 


Pretorian  Guards 


§97]  Economic  and  Literary  Character  107 

97.   Economic  and  Literary  Character  of  the  Age.  —  For  The 

the  city  of  Rome  a  great  age  opened  with  the  accession  of  imProved 

Augustus.     Peace  and   security  were  followed  by  a  rapid  the  Empire, 

revival  of  prosperity  in  which  Rome  had  a  full  share.     Com-  church 

merce  flourished  and  dealt  in  the  goods  of  the  most  remote  Pictures 

countries.     Augustus  gave  much  attention,  not  merely  to  from  A'oman 

,,.,.-  '     ,        ^        .  Life  and 

the  great  roads  leading  from  every  part  of  the  Empire  to   story 
the  capital,  but  also  to  the  adornment  of  the  city.     His    (the  Empire 
boast  was  not  a  vain  one  that  he  found  a  city  of  brick,  and  *°  ^ °^^1 
left  one  of  marble.     One  of  the   new  buildings  was   the  in  Rome 
Pantheon,  in  which  were  gathered  all  the  gods  of  the  Em-   under  the 
pire,  something  new  in  the  world,  but  symbol  of  a  still  more   Flir^    ' 
important  thing  that  was  new  —  the  community  of  nations  studies, 
in  a  common  system.    This  community  of  nations  once  estab-   No\9 ; 
lished  by  Rome  has  never  ceased,  though  it  has  changed  its   No  Vii. 
form,  and  out  of  it  grew  the  idea  of  the  unity  of  all  men 
—  the  brotherhood  of  men,  as  they  began  to  call  it  in  the 
early  days  of  the  Empire.     This  idea,  of  such  immense  value 
in  the  civilization  of  the  world,  and  soon  to  be  so  strongly 
reinforced  by  the  teachings  of  Christianity,  first  rose  to  con- 
sciousness in  the  minds  of  men  as  a  result  of  the  conquests 
and  organized  Empire  of  Rome. 

The  Stoic  philosophy,  which  had  been  developed  among  The  Stoic 

the  Greeks,  gave  the   Romans  a  scientific  foundation  for  philosophy. 

Capes 
such  an  idea  as  the  brotherhood  of  man,  to  which  their  stoicism 

own  history  had  led  them,  and  furnished  them  also  many   (S.  P.  C.  K.) ; 

other  lofty  moral   ideas.     The   Stoic   philosophy,  with   its  a"artlcle: 

.         r     1  •  1        r  11  Roman 

emphasis  of  the  strong  virtues,   and   of  manly  endurance  stoicism, 

and  calmness  under  trials,  was  particularly  attractive  to  the  Westminster 

Roman  character,  whose  natural  ideal  was  one  of  unyielding  ^"^g2. 

courage.     The  early  Empire  produced  some  of  the  most  selections 

famous  of  the  Stoics,  like  Seneca  and  the  emperor  Marcus  from 

.         . .  Epictetus 

AurellUS.  (Putnam). 

In  literature  the  reign  of  Augustus  is  as  remarkable  as  in   Literature 
other  directions.     The   names   of  Livy  in   history,  and  of 
Vergil,  Horace,  and  Ovid   in   poetry  give    evidence   of  a 
wealth  of  production  which  has  made  the  name  Augustus 


io8 


The  Empire  and  its  Decline        [§§  98>  99 


Changes  in 
the  govern- 
ment of  the 
provinces. 
Arnold, 
Roman 
Provincial 
Administra- 
tion ; 
Merivale, 
Romans, 
Chap. 
XXXII. 


End  of  the 
age  of 
Roman 
conquests. 


stand  for  an  age  of  literary  brilliancy  in  the  history  of  later 
nations.  Yet  there  are  few  great  names  in  the  history  of 
Roman  literature  to  add  to  these,  and  in  total  product  it  is 
far  below  the  Greeks. 

98.  Provincial  Administration.  —  The  statesmanship  of 
Augustus  appears  most  clearly  of  all  in  his  reorganization 
of  the  provincial  government  of  the  Empire.  The  provinces 
were  divided  into  two  classes,  the  senatorial  and  the  impe- 
rial. The  interior  provinces,  long  conquered  and  well 
organized,  were  left  under  the  administration  of  the  Senate 
as  originally,  though  their  governors  were  held  to  a  more 
real  and  strict  responsibility.  The  more  recent  provinces 
and  those  on  the  frontiers,  which  were  unsettled  and  ex- 
posed to  attack,  the  emperor  held  in  his  own  hands,  that 
is,  he  governed  them  by  officers  appointed  by  himself  and 
immediately  responsible  to  him  for  their  conduct.  The 
change  was  one  of  great  advantage  to  the  provincials.  The 
larger  part  of  the  old  oppression  and  extortion  came  to  an 
end,  and  though  it  might  occasionally  reappear  in  later 
times,  the  subjects  of  Rome  from  now  on  began  to  look 
upon  the  imperial  government  less  as  that  of  their  con- 
querors, and  more  as  a  government  in  which  they  had  a 
share,  as  in  a  sense  their  own.  It  was  the  beginning  of  a 
change  which  made  the  last  step  in  the  process  of  making 
all  men  Romans,  members  on  an  equal  footing  of  a  world- 
wide state,  from  which  the  people  and  city  of  Rome  had 
disappeared  as  rulers,  though  they  survived  in  the  language, 
laws,  and  institutions,  which  had  become  universal. 

99.  Augustus  and  the  Germans.  —  On  the  frontiers  it  was 
the  object  of  Augustus  to  maintain  peace,  a  policy  which, 
followed  by  nearly  all  later  emperors,  brought  the  age  of 
Roman  conquests  to  an  end.  On  one  frontier  Augustus 
could  not  carry  out  his  policy  of  peace,  that  of  Germany. 
This  was  due  to  the  warlike  and  restless  character  of  the 
German  tribes,  and  the  constant  warfare  of  his  reign  along 
the  Rhine  and  the  Danube  was  only  the  opening  of  a  cease- 
less conflict  which  runs  through  all  the  later  history  of  the 


§  ioo]  The  Period  of  the  Julian  House 


109 


Empire,  until   from   increasing  weakness   Rome  could  no 
longer  maintain  her  ground,  and  the  Germans  broke  through 

and  conquered  the  West.  The  defeat  of 

One  attempt  to  teach  the  Germans  the  danger  of  attack-  Varus, 

ing  the  Romans  led  to  a  great  disaster.     Varus  with  three  jeans' 

legions  invaded  Germany,  as  Julius  Caesar  had  done,  but  iv.  268-276. 


A  Cameo 

Claudius,  Agrippina  the  Younger,  Livia,  and  Tiberius 


was  killed  and  his  army  annihilated  by  the  Germans  under 
Arminius,  or  Hermann,  in  the  battle  of  the  Teutoberger 
Forest.  This  battle  is  regarded  by  the  Germans  as  in  a  way 
the  beginning  of  their  national  history,  and  Hermann  as  the 
first  of  their  national  heroes. 

100.    The  Period  of  the   Julian  House. — The  reign  of 
Augustus,   which   is   usually   reckoned    as    beginning   with  reign. 


Dates  of 
Augustus' 


no 


The  Empire  and  its  Decline 


[§IOI 


The 

successors  of 
Augustus. 
S.  Baring 
Gould,  The 
Tragedy  of 
the  Casars, 
2  vols. 
(Scribner) ; 
Tacitus, 
Annals, 
translation 
of  Church 
and 

Brodribb ; 
Suetonius, 
Lives  of  the 
Twelve 
Ccesars 
(Bohn) ; 

The  reign  of 
Tiberius, 
14-37  A.D. 
Caligula, 
37-44- 


Claudius, 
41-54- 


Tacitus, 
Annals, 
XII.  46-47. 

Nero,  54-68. 

Sienkiewicz, 
Quo  VaJis 
(novel)  ; 
Tacitus, 
Annals, 
XV.  38-41, 


29  B.C.,  runs  on  to  14  a.d.  and  so  includes  the  beginning  of 
the  Christian  era  and  the  birth  of  Christ,  an  event  which 
was  to  have  such  momentous  consequences  both  for  the 
Roman  Empire  and  for  all  mankind. 

The  adoptive  and  the  lineal  descendants  of  Augustus 
reigned  for  a  little  more  than  fifty  years  after  his  death. 
The  story  of  the  half  century  is  one  of  almost  unbroken 
tyranny  and  brutal  debauchery,  and  the  patience  with  which 
the  Roman  people  endured  it  shows  how  soon  they  had 
completely  reconciled  themselves  to  the  monarchy  as  the 
only  possible  government. 

101.  From  Tiberius  to  Nero.  — The  immediate  successor 
of  Augustus  was  Tiberius,  son  of  his  wife  Livia  and  adopted 
by  the  emperor  after  the  death  of  his  grandsons  Caius  and 
Lucius  Caesar.  He  was  past  fifty  years  of  age  at  his  acces- 
sion, had  distinguished  himself  in  war  and  gave  promise  of  a 
wise  and  happy  reign.  But  he  soon  abandoned  the  power 
to  his  favorite  Sejanus,  who  hoped  to  make  his  own  way  to 
the  throne.  The  last  years  of  Tiberius  were  filled  with  vio- 
lent deaths  in  the  emperor's  family  and  with  suspicion  and 
terror  for  all  who  came  near  him. 

Caligula  his  successor  made  his  favorite  horse  consul  and 
wished  the  Roman  people  had  a  single  neck  to  save  the 
trouble  of  so  many  executions.  Claudius,  made  emperor 
by  the  Pretorian  guard  after  the  murder  of  Caligula,  gave 
the  Empire  at  large  a  few  years  of  better  rule,  but  could  not 
bring  to  an  end  the  reign  of  intrigue  and  assassination  in 
his  own  court.  He  was  himself  finally  poisoned  by  his  wife, 
Agrippina,  to  secure  the  throne  to  her  son  by  another 
marriage. 

Nero,  the  last  of  the  family  of  Augustus,  is  the  typical 
tyrant  of  the  period.  He  murdered  his  mother,  whose 
crimes  had  made  him  emperor,  and  a  long  series  of  others, 
among  them  his  wife,  his  early  tutor,  the  philosopher  Seneca, 
and  the  poet  Lucan ;  he  was  suspected  of  having  kindled 
the  great  fire  which  destroyed  half  the  city  during  his  reign 
as  a  fitting  scene  for  the  recitation  of  his  great  poem  on  the 


§§  io2?  103]     Growth  of  the  Imperial  Constitution     in 


siege  of  Troy ;  and  to  divert  suspicion  from  himself  he  is 
said  to  have  accused  the  Christians  of  the  crime,  and  to 
have  burnt  many  of  them.  In  this  persecution  the  apostles 
St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul  are  believed  to  have  perished.  At 
last  the  patience  of  the  world  was  exhausted  and  the  armies 
in  several  of  the  provinces  rose  almost  at  the  same  time. 
Nero  killed  himself  to  avoid  a  more  cruel  death,  exclaiming  : 
"  How  great  an  artist  is  about  to  die." 

102.  The  Flavian  Dynasty.  —  Three  emperors,  Galba, 
Otho,  and  Vitellius,  follow  one  another  in  rapid  succession, 
set  up  and  deposed  by  their  armies  or  by  the  Pretorian 
guards.  Finally  the  army  in  the  eastern  provinces  made 
their  commander  Vespasian  emperor  and  the  founder  of 
a  new  dynasty,  the  Flavian.  He  was  succeeded  by  his  son 
Titus,  the  conqueror  of  Jerusalem,  in  whose  reign  occurred 
the  great  eruption  of  Vesuvius  which  destroyed  the  cities 
of  Pompeii  and  Herculaneum.  Vespasian  and  Titus  had 
been  emperors  of  the  best  type.  Titus  was  called  the 
"delight  of  mankind."  But  Domitian  his  brother  was 
another  Nero,  and  after  too  long  a  reign  filled  with  cruelties 
was  murdered  by  one  of  his  own  slaves. 

103.  Growth  of  the  Imperial  Constitution.  — The  end  of 
the  Flavian  dynasty,  so  near  the  end  of  the  first  century, 
a.d.,  marks  the  close  also  of  the  first  age  in  the  history  of 
the  Empire.  The  constitution  had  now  become  much  more 
monarchical  in  form.  Tiberius  took  ~Way  from  the  assem- 
blies the  election  of  the  magistrates  and  gave  it  to  the  Sen- 
ate, and  the  last  lex  was  passed  by  the  people  in  the  reign 
immediately  following  Domitian's.  The  Senate  ceased  to 
be  an  independent  part  of  the  government  and  became  a 
great  council  of  state  for  the  emperors.  The  reign  of  terror 
under  which  the  capital  lived  during  almost  the  whole 
period  did  not  extend  to  the  provinces,  and  they  enjoyed 
almost  unbroken  prosperity  under  governors  whom  the 
provincials  could  impeach  at  Rome  for  misconduct  with 
some  chance  of  success  and  with  provincial  assemblies 
which  had  some  influence  on  the  conduct  of  local  affairs. 


Vespasian 
and  his  sons, 
69-96. 


Freeman, 
The  Flavian 
CxBStc%  in 

Historical 
Essays, 
Vol.  II.; 
Bulvver,  The 
Last  Days  of 
Pompeii 
(novel). 

The  constitu- 
tion more 
monarchical. 


The  prov- 
inces pros- 
perous. 


112 


The  Empire  and  its  Decline 


[§  ">3 


The  frontiers  of  the  Rhine  and  Danube  were  made  secure 
against  the  Germans,  and  the  eastern  frontier  against  the 


Arch  of  Trajan 


Parthians,  the  successors  of  the  Persians.  A  great  insur- 
rection of  the  Jews  was  put  down  after  a  desperate  struggle 
by  Vespasian  and  his  son  Titus,  and  one  in  Gaul  under 


§104] 


The  Five  Good  Emperors 


113 


Civilis  about  the  same  time.  The  conquest  of  Britain, 
begun  under  Claudius,  was  completed  by  Agricola,  the 
father-in-law  of  the  historian  Tacitus,  under  the  Flavian 
emperors. 

Still  more  important  were  the  processes  of  Romanization 
and  centralization  which  go  on  rapidly  during  this  century. 
Claudius  adopted  the  plan  of  admitting  distinguished  pro- 
vincials to  the  Senate,  and  this  policy,  followed  by  his  suc- 
cessors, did  much  to  form  one  nation  of  the  Empire.  The 
worship  of  the  emperor's  genius,  as  the  guardian  genius  of 
the  state,  became  during  the  century  a  universal  religion, 
the  one  universal  religion  of  the  Empire,  serving  not  merely 
to  bind  the  Empire  together,  but  to  awaken  a  feeling  of  per- 
sonal devotion,  akin  to  patriotism. 

104.  The  Five  Good  Emperors.  —  The  second  century, 
a.d.,  is  the  age  of  the  Antonines,  the  reigns  of  the  five  good 
emperors,  Nerva,  Trajan,  Hadrian,  Antoninus  Pius,  and  Mar- 
cus Aurelius,  closed  by  the  reign  of  Commodus  who,  though 
the  son  of  one  of  the  best  sovereigns  who  ever  ruled,  Marcus 
Aurelius,  was  himself  one  of  the  worst.  The  period  from 
96  to  180,  the  date  of  Marcus  Aurelius'  death,  is  the 
golden  age  of  the  Roman  Empire,  —  one  of  the  happiest 
ages  of  history.  The  Empire  was  at  peace  and  seemingly 
prosperous  within  and  strongly  defended  without.  Although 
almost  the  whole  of  the  reign  of  Marcus  Aurelius  was  a  des- 
perate struggle  with  the  Germans  in  which  we  can  begin  to 
detect  the  failing  powers  of  the  Empire,  he  succeeded  in 
maintaining  the  frontiers. 

Nerva's  short  reign  brought  the  abuses  of  Domitian's  to 
an  end.  Trajan,  a  Spaniard,  that  is,  a  provincial,  and  so  a 
sign  of  the  growing  Romanization,  was  a  soldier  and  added 
a  province  to  the  Empire  —  Dacia,  north  of  the  Danube. 
This  was  abandoned  almost  immediately  after  his  death,  but 
its  present  name  of  Roumania  preserves  the  memory  of  the 
Roman  occupation,  and  the  colonies  settled  there  by  Trajan 
Romanized  the  language  so  thoroughly  that  the  modern 
speech  of  the  country  is  as  truly  a  descendant  of  the  Latin 
1 


Civilis. 
Tacitus,  His- 
tory, Bk.  IV. 

Tacitus, 
Agricola, 
translation  of 
Church  and 
Brodribb. 

Romaniza- 
tion of  the 
world. 
Gibbon, 
Chap.  II.; 
Fisher,  Be- 
ginnings of 
Christianity, 
47-73.     See 
Claudius' 
speech  in 
Tacitus, 
Annals,  XI., 
24-25. 

The  five 
good  em- 
perors. 
Capes,  The 
Age  of  the 
Antonines 
(Epochs)  ; 
Gibbon, 
Chaps.I.-III. 


Nerva  and 

Trajan, 

96-117. 


The  origin  of 
Roumania. 
Capes,  Anto- 
nines, 36-38; 
Merivale, 
Romans, 
VII.  189-197. 


114 


The  Empire  and  its  Decline 


[§105 


as  Italian.  Hadrian  and  Antoninus  Pius  spent  laborious 
lives  in  the  faithful  service  of  the  state,  and  the  Stoic  phi- 
losopher Marcus  Aurelius,  even  more  famous  for  his  little 
book  entitled  "  Thoughts  "  —  thoughts  on  living,  on  con- 
duct and  character — than  as  an  emperor,  spent  an  even 
harder  life  in  desperate  warfare  on  the  Danube. 


Marcus  Aurelius 


Roman  law 
given  scien- 
tific form. 
Extracts  from 
Justinian's 
Institutes, 
Fling,  Stu- 
dies, No.  10; 
the  Institutes, 
translated  by 
Moyle 
(Clarendon). 


105.  The  Roman  Law. — The  two  processes  which  had 
characterized  the  first  century  went  on  steadily  through  the 
second,  the  Romanization  of  the  Empire  and  the  gradual 
transformation  of  the  constitution  into  an  undisguised 
monarchy.  This  age,  however,  saw  a  new  process  begin- 
ning which  was  of  the  utmost  importance  for  the  future 
history  of  the  world.  It  was  the  reduction  of  the  Roman 
law  to  definite  and  scientific  form.  We  shall  see  later  the 
deep  and  permanent  influence  which  the  Roman  law  has 


§io5] 


The  Roman  Law 


"5 


exercised  on  all  the  civilized  nations  of  later  times.  It  was 
in  the  second  century  that  it  began  to  be  put  into  the  shape 
that  enabled  it  to  exert  this  influence. 

In  its  growth  the  Roman  law  was  in  many  ways  like  our 
own  Anglo-Saxon  law.  It  had  two  chief  sources,  the  written 
or  statute  laws,  made  by  the  people  in  the  days  of  the  Repub- 
lic and  by  the  emperors  later,  and  the  unwritten  law,  founded 
on  the  customs  and  precedents  established  in  the  administra- 
tion of  the  law  in  the  courts.  The  body  of  this  law  had 
naturally  come  to  be  after  so  many  generations  enormous  in 
size  and  very  confused  and  intricate. 

Now  begins  the  process  of  putting  it  into  simple  and 
scientific  form.  It  began  in  two  ways.  One  was  the 
act  of  the  emperor,  following  a  practice  begun  much 
earlier.  The  praetor,  or  judge,  in  taking  possession  of 
his  province  issued  an  edict  which  stated  the  principles 
by  which  he  would  be  guided  in  his  administration  of 
the  law.  These  edicts  had  now  become  very  numerous 
and  often  contradictory,  and  the  emperor  Hadrian  issued 
what  was  called  "  the  perpetual  edict "  to  take  their 
place.  This  stated  the  principles  which  should  be  followed 
by  the  judges  in  the  provincial  courts  uniformly  throughout 
the  Empire.  It  was  a  limited  and  partial  codification,  but 
it  introduced  a  process  which  went  on  by  degrees  through 
four  hundred  years  and  finally  resulted  in  the  great  codifica- 
tion of  the  emperor  Justinian.  The  other  process  was  the 
writing  of  scientific  treatises  on  the  law,  or  on  special  points 
of  it,  by  the  great  lawyers  of  the  time.  These  writings 
came  to  have  very  great  authority  in  later  times,  and  tended 
to  reduce  the  law  to  systematic  form  and  to  bring  out 
clearly  the  scientific  principles  on  which  it  rested.  One 
influence  was  exerted  on  the  teachings  of  the  Roman  law 
at  this  time,  and  mainly  through  the  writings  of  these 
lawyers,  which  is  very  interesting.  The  Stoic  philosophy 
was,  as  we  have  seen,  very  much  cultivated  at  Rome  under 
the  early  Empire,  and  from  it  the  writers  on  law  took  many 
maxims  of  ethics  to  prove  the  justice  or  to  give   brief  and 


How  the  law 
had  been 
formed. 
Hadley, 
Introd.  to 
Rom.  Law, 
Lect.  III. 


The  begin- 
ning of  codi- 
fication. 


The  writings 
of  the  juris- 
consults. 


The  influ- 
ence of 
Stoicism. 


u6 


The  Empire  and  its  Decline    [§§  106,  107 


Rapid  de- 
cline of  the 
Empire. 


Gibbon, 
Chap.  X. 


The  Illyrian 

emperors. 

Freeman, 

Historical 

Essays,  Vol. 

III. 

Diocletian, 
284-305. 
Gibbon, 
Chap.  XIII.; 
Bury,  Later 
Empire,  Bk. 
I.,  Chap.  IV. 


pointed  statement  to  the  principles  of  the  law.  Several  of 
these,  on  this  account,  because  taken  up  into  a  system  of 
law  which  was  to  be  so  permanent,  have  come  down  to  our 
own  time  as  maxims  of  legal  or  political  ethics.  The  most 
interesting  of  these  to  us  is  the  one  used  in  several  different 
ways  in  the  documents  of  the  American  and  French  revolu- 
tions :  All  men  are  by  nature  free  and  equal. 

106.  The  Disorders  of  the  Third  Century. — After  the 
close  of  the  second  century  the  Roman  Empire  went  on 
rapidly  to  its  fall.  The  third  century  was  filled  with  dis- 
order and  anarchy.  Emperors  of  the  worst  type,  like 
Caracalla  or  Elagabalus;  disputed  successions  in  which 
several  emperors  at  once,  set  up  by  their  armies  in  the 
provinces,  fight  with  one  another  for  the  throne, — at  the 
middle  of  the  century  was  a  period  called  that  of  the 
thirty  tyrants  from  the  number  of  pretending  emperors  ;  — 
and  incursions  of  barbarian  tribes  who  could  no  longer  be 
kept  out  by  the  weakening  frontier  guards;  all  these  at 
once  indicate  the  decline  of  Rome  and  show  us  what  helped 
to  produce  it.  The  Alemanni  broke  through  the  Rhine 
frontier  and  even  invaded  northern  Italy  ;  the  Goths  crossed 
the  Danube,  defeated  and  killed  the  emperor  Decius, 
ravaged  the  shores  of  the  Bosphorus,  and  escaped  without 
adequate  punishment.  The  Persians  invaded  Syria  and 
captured  the  emperor  Valerian.  It  might  almost  seem  as 
if  the  Empire  would  be  broken  up  at  once.  But  in  the  last 
quarter  of  the  century  came  a  succession  of  emperors,  who 
checked  for  a  time  the  rapidity  of  the  decline.  Aurelian 
(270-275)  beat  back  the  barbarians,  restored  the  frontiers, 
and  subdued  Gaul  and  Palmyra. 

107.  The  Reforms  of  Diocletian.  —  With  Diocletian  a 
great  statesman  became  emperor,  and  great  changes  were 
made,  intended  to  restore  the  strength  of  the  Empire.  He 
thought,  very  wisely,  that  there  were  two  necessities  to  be 
supplied,  one  that  there  should  be  an  able  man  in  supreme 
command  on  every  frontier  to  maintain  it  unbroken,  and 
the  other  that  the  order  of  succession  should  be  so  clearly 


§  io8] 


Constantine  the  Great 


117 


marked  out  that  the  danger  of  civil  war  would  be  avoided. 
To  accomplish  these  results  he  decided  that  there  should  be 
two  emperors,  one  looking  after  the  East  and  one  the 
West,  and  that  each  of  these  should  appoint  an  assistant 
who  should  take  the  title  of  Caesar,  be  responsible  for  the 
government  of  a  part  of  the  provinces,  and  succeed  to  the 
throne  in  regular  order.  Besides  these  changes  Diocletian 
made  many  others.  The  provinces  were  reorganized,  their 
number  almost  doubled,  and  all  were  made  imperial  provinces. 
The  military  were  entirely  separated  from  the  civil  offices, 
and  the  latter  were  given  a  very  strict  organization  from  the 
highest  to  the  lowest.  In  the  court,  Oriental  etiquette  was 
introduced,  and  the  government  became  in  external  appear- 
ance as  in  reality,  a  true  despotism. 

108.  Constantine  the  Great.  —  The  system  of  Diocletian 
was  very  well  planned,  but  it  did  not  take  into  account  the 
strength  of  ambition.  When  he  abdicated  in  305,  civil 
war  almost  immediately  broke  out  among  the  rivals  for 
supreme  power,  and  lasted  for  nearly  twenty  years.  In  the 
end  Constantine,  whose  father  had  been  Caesar  in  Britain 
and  Gaul,  by  his  genius,  and  by  his  readiness  without  scruple 
to  make  use  of  any  means,  gained  the  victory  over  all  the 
others,  and  became  sole  emperor  (323).  Constantine,  the 
equal  of  Diocletian  in  statesmanship,  maintained  the  strength 
of  the  Empire  to  the  close  of  his  reign,  and,  though  he 
dropped  Diocletian's  plan  of  emperors  and  Caesars,  he  kept 
up  and  perfected  his  system  of  internal  organization.  Two 
things  especially  mark  his  reign  as  a  great  turning-point  in 
history.  The  first  is  his  recognition  of  Christianity  as  a 
legal  religion  to  be  protected  by  the  state.  This  was  done 
by  Constantine,  as  nearly  as  we  can  judge,  not  from  any 
conviction  of  the  truth  of  the  religion,  but  from  motives  of 
policy.  The  other  was  his  change  of  the  capital  of  the  Em- 
pire from  Rome  to  Constantinople  on  the  Bosphorus.  The 
situation  of  Rome  was  very  favorable  in  the  early  ages  of  its 
history  when  its  task  was  the  conquest  of  the  Mediterranean 
lands,  but  now  when  its  northern  and  eastern  frontiers  de- 


Division  of 
the  Empire. 
Arnold, 
Roman  Pro- 
vincial Ad- 
ministration, 
166-178. 


Renewed 
civil  war. 
Gibbon, 
Chap.  XIV. 


Constantine, 

323-337. 
Gibbon, 
Chaps.  XVI  I. 
and  XVIII. 


Constanti- 
nople the 
capital  of  the 
Empire. 
Bury,  Later 


8 


The  Empire  and  its  Decline 


[§  1 08 


Empire,  Bk. 
I.,  Chap.  V.; 
Oman,  By- 
zantine   Em- 
pire (Na- 
tions), Chap. 
II. 


manded  the  constant  watchfulness  of  the  government,  it  was 
far  to  one  side.  Even  before  the  time  of  Constantine,  Rome 
had  practically  ceased  to  be  the  residence  of  the  emperors, 
and  afterwards,  when  the  West  had  an  emperor  of  its  own, 
he  preferred  to  reside  at  Milan,  nearer  to  the  threatened 


Constantine  the  Great 

(From  a  Colossal  Statue  in  the  Vatican) 


frontiers,  or  in  Ravenna  made  still  more  secure  by  the 
swamps  which  surrounded  it.  On  the  other  hand,  the  situ- 
ation of  Constantinople  was  most  admirable  both  for  rule 
and  for  defence.  It  commanded  both  Europe  and  Asia 
in  days  before  men  had  begun  to  make  highways  of  the 
oceans,  and  so  profound  an  impression  did  its  strategic 
advantages  make  upon  history  that  even  now,  in  totally 
changed  conditions,  men  cannot  get  rid  of  it 


Topics  119 

Topics 

Describe  the  position  which  Augustus  held  as  ruler,  as  the  Romans 
would  look  at  it.  Can  you  mention  anything  of  a  similar  kind  in  mod- 
ern politics?  What  changes  for  the  better  were  made  by  the  establish- 
ment of  the  Empire?  How  were  the  provinces  governed?  Put  to- 
gether the  facts  showing  the  relation  between  Rome  and  the  Germans 
during  this  period.  Character  of  the  emperors  of  Augustus'  family, 
especially  of  Nero.  The  Flavian  dynasty.  What  is  meant  by  the 
Romanization  of  the  Empire,  and  what  were  its  permanent  conse- 
quences? The  age  of  the  good  emperors.  Growth  and  systemizing  of 
the  Roman  law.  The  character  of  the  third  century.  The  changes 
made  by  Diocletian.    Those  made  by  Constantine. 

Topics  for  Assigned  Studies 

Nero.     Tacitus,  Annals,  XV.  13-16.      Merivale,  Romans,  Chap.  LV. 

Capes,  Early  Empire  (Epochs),  Chap.  V. 
Marcus  Aurelius.     His   Thoughts,  translation  of  Long  or  of  Jeremy 

Collier.      Matthew    Arnold,    Essays    in    Criticism,   I.    344-379. 

Capes,  Antonines  (Epochs),  Chap.  V. 


CHAPTER    II 

THE  ESTABLISHMENT  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

Books  for  Reference  and  Further  Reading 

Fisher,  The  Beginnings  of  Christianity.     (Scribner;  $2.50.) 
Ramsay,    The   Church   in  the  Roman  Empire.     (London,  Hodder; 

Putnam;  £3.00.) 
Uhlhorn,  The  Conflict  of  Christianity  with  Heathenism.     (Scribner; 

$2.50.) 
Hatch,  Organization  of  the  Early  Christian  Churches.     (Longmans; 

I1.75) 

Allen,  Christian  Institutions.     (Scribner;  52.50.) 

Renan,  Influence  of  Rome  on  Christianity.     (Scribner;  $1.50.) 

Burckhardt,  Die  Zeit  Constantins  des  Grosses.      (Leipzig;   6  marks.) 

Nearly  all  the  original  Christian  literature  of  this  period  is  to  be 
found  in  translation  in  the  Ante-Nicene  Library,  or  in  Bohn. 

A  few  work-  109.  Christianity  at  the  Death  of  Christ.  —  The  recogni- 
me"  a"d  ^on  which  Christianity  received  from  Constantine  was  due 
to  its  strength  in  numbers  and  organization.  When  we 
remember  the  situation  of  this  new  religion  at  the  death  of 
its  founder,  it  seems  a  most  remarkable  fact  that  it  had 
reached  this  position  of  influence  in  the  Empire  in  less 
than  three  hundred  years.  At  that  date  it  had  not  been 
preached  outside  of  Judea,  one  of  the  most  insignificant 
divisions  of  the  Empire.  Its  adherents  were  a  mere  handful 
of  workmen  and  women,  who  up  to  that  time  do  not  seem 
to  have  understood  the  mission  of  their  teacher.  His 
death,  however,  wrought  a  great  change.  The  disciples 
became  leaders  and  apostles,  and  the  number  of  converts 
among  the  Jews  rapidly  increased. 


women. 


§  m]     Why  the  Romans  persecuted  Christianity     121 


no.  Christianity  becomes  a  World  Religion.  — The  first 
great  step  in  advance  was  taken  when  the  wall  of  Jewish 
exclusiveness  was  broken  down  and  the  gospel  was  pro- 
claimed on  equal  terms  to  all  men.  From  the  New  Testa- 
ment we  learn  that  this  was  begun  by  St.  Peter,  to  be 
carried  out  most  logically  and  completely  by  St.  Paul.  Our 
records  of  the  early  progress  of  Christianity  are  incomplete, 
but  we  know  that  churches  were  established  in  many  of 
the  chief  cities  of  the  Empire  within  thirty  years  of  the 
crucifixion. 

Especially  interesting  is  the  church  at  Rome,  because 
this  first  came  into  serious  collision  with  the  government  of 
the  state.  With  this  church  we  know  from  the  New  Testa- 
ment that  St.  Paul  labored  for  a  time,  and  tradition  asserts 
that  St.  Peter  did  also,  a  tradition  to  which  history  lends 
some  slight  support.  Here  as  elsewhere  the  adherents  of 
Christianity  were  drawn  mainly  from  the  poor,  slaves,  and 
the  lower  classes,  who  were  especially  attracted  by  its 
message  of  hope  and  comfort.  The  higher  classes  of  Rome 
would  know  but  little  of  Christianity  in  its  early  days,  and 
if  it  was  persecuted  by  Nero  it  was  not  with  the  deliberate 
and  thoroughgoing  intention  of  the  later  emperors. 

in.  Why  the  Romans  persecuted  Christianity. — This 
condition  of  things  began  to  change  in  the  second  century. 
In  some  parts  of  the  Empire  the  number  of  the  Christians 
increased  so  largely  as  to  draw  the  attention  of  the  state. 
There  were  among  them  now  also  many  more  persons  of 
rank  and  education  than  formerly.  When  the  Roman  gov- 
ernment began  to  be  conscious  of  this  and  to  understand 
the  character  of  the  Christian  church,  it  began  to  be  hostile 
to  it. 

Rome  had  been  very  tolerant  of  the  religions  of  all  the 
peoples  it  had  conquered,  but  it  could  not  be  tolerant  of 
Christianity.  This  was  because  Christianity  differed  from 
all  the  other  religions  in  its  exclusive  character.  It  denied 
the  gods  of  Rome,  and  refused  to  allow  them  to  be  wor- 
shipped.   To  the  earnest  Roman  citizen  or  officer  this  seemed 


Preached  to 
the  Gentiles. 
Fisher,  Be- 
ginnings, 
Chap.  XV.; 
Acts,  Chaps. 
X.  and  XV., 
and  Gala- 
tians,  Chap. 
II. 


The  church 
at  Rome. 
Farrar,  Dark- 
ness and 
Dawn 
(novel)  ; 
Fisher,  Be- 
ginnings, 

520-533 ; 

Penn.  IV., 
No.  1. 


The  state 
begins  to 
notice  the 
Christians. 
Pliny's  letters 
on  the  Chris- 
tians, Fling, 
Studies,  No. 
9;  Indiana, 
No.  8;  Penn. 
IV,  No.  1 ; 
in  general, 
Fling, 

Studies,  II., 
No.  1. 

Rome  intol- 
erant of 
Christianity 
alone. 
Fisher, 


122 


The  Establishment  of  Christianity        [§112 


Beginnings, 
539-542 ; 
Capes,  Anto- 
nines,  Chap. 
VI. ;  Church, 
To  the  Lions 
(novel). 


The  best 
emperors 
persecute. 
Matthew  Ar- 
nold, Essays 
in  (  ri  tic  ism, 

I-359-363; 
Penn.  IV., 
No.  1 ;  Uhl- 
horn,  Con- 
flict, 282-297 
Gregg,  The 
Decian  Per- 
secution 
(Black- 
wood) ; 
Newman, 
Callista 
(novel). 
Carr,  The 
Church  and 
the  Roman 
Empire 
(Epochs, 
Ch.  Hist.), 
Chap.  II. 


The  earliest 
organization 
simple. 
Causes  of 
change. 


to  be  treason.  The  Romans  believed  that  the  safety  and 
prosperity  of  the  state  depended  on  the  favor  of  the  national 
gods,  which  was  to  be  won  only  by  paying  them  their  due 
worship.  To  refuse  to  worship  them  was  to  invite  public 
calamities.  When  the  state  was  merged  in  the  emperor,  his 
guardian  genius  became  the  especial  guardian  genius  of  the 
Empire.  To  refuse  a  simple  act  of  worship  before  the 
emperor's  statue,  which  was  the  test  often  demanded  of 
the  Christians,  seemed  to  the  Roman  a  more  open  act  of 
treason  than  it  would  to  us  if  a  man  should  refuse  to  promise 
allegiance  and  fidelity  to  the  state. 

This  explains  why  we  find  an  extended  persecution  of 
the  Christians  under  Marcus  Aurelius,  who  was  one  of  the 
best  sovereigns  of  history,  and  why  as  a  rule  it  is  the  best 
emperors,  those  who  are  endeavoring  to  restore  the  strength 
and  simplicity  of  early  times  and  remove  the  causes  of  cor- 
ruption and  weakness  which  have  come  in,  who  persecute 
the  church  the  most  severely.  The  last  of  these  great  per- 
secutions was  under  Diocletian,  whose  efforts  to  reform  the 
state  we  have  seen.  It  was  a  most  determined  and  system- 
atic persecution,  carefully  planned  to  destroy  the  leaders 
and  the  Christian  writings  and  to  bring  the  common  people 
back  to  the  national  religion.  It  ended,  however,  in  failure, 
and  the  state  had  abandoned  the  attempt  before  the  vic- 
tories of  Constantine  changed  the  attitude  of  the  govT 
ernment. 

112.  The  Beginnings  of  Church  Government.  —  During  all 
the  third  century  Christianity  was  spreading  rapidly.  The 
persecutions  rather  aided  than  hindered  its  growth.  As  the 
membership  of  the  church  increased,  it  gave  itself  a  stronger 
and  more  complex  organization.  The  New  Testament  does 
not  allow  us  to  say  beyond  the  possibility  of  dispute  what 
was  the  exact  organization  of  the  earliest  churches,  but  the 
best  scholars  of  all  present  churches  unite  in  holding  that  it 
was  much  simpler  than  it  came  to  be  when  numbers  and 
wealth  had  so  increased  that  a  more  definite  constitution 
was  possible.    The  hostile  attitude  of  the  Roman  state  was 


§ii2]     The  Beginnings  of  Church  Government      123 


favorable  also  to  a  close  organization.  Then  again  the 
dissensions  which  early  began  to  arise  in  the  church  con- 
cerning various  points  of  doctrinal  belief,  and  which  gave 
rise  to  the  great  heretical  parties,  had  the  effect  to  draw 
together  those  who  held  the  orthodox  belief  into  a  united 
body  against  their  opponents. 

The  government  of  the  Roman  Empire  was  followed 
somewhat  closely  by  that  of  the  church  as  it  developed,  for 
it  was  the  only  form  of  political  organization  with  which  the 


The  Empire 
a  model. 
Schaff, 
Church  His- 


Christian  Sarcophagus,  with  Labarum,  etc. 

men  of  the  time  were  familiar.  The  bishop  naturally  took  tory,  11., 
up  his  residence  in  the  local  capital  of  the  provincial  sub-  Alz*p' 
division,  the  archbishop,  or  metropolitan,  in  that  of  the 
larger  province ;  and  some  of  the  greater  cities,  like  Anti- 
och  and  Alexandria,  became  the  seats  of  still  higher  officers, 
the  patriarchs.  It  was  the  beginning  of  a  monarchical  con- 
stitution, but  at  the  end  of  the  third  century  it  was  still  only 
a  beginning.  Progress  enough  had  been  made,  however,  to 
give  the  church  a  compact  organization  and  to  make  it  a 
power  within  the  state.     This  Diocletian  had  discovered  in 


Church  His- 
tory, I.  389- 
415- 


124 


The  Establishment  of  Christianity        [§113 


his  persecution,  and  Constantine  was  shrewd  enough  to  see 
it  at  the  outset  of  his  career,  and  to  take  advantage  of  it 
by  allying  himself  with  the  Christians. 

By  this  time,  also,  another  of  the  most  characteristic 
features  of  medieval  Christian  life,  the  monastic  system,  had 
begun  to  assume  its  later  form.  Monasticism  had  its  origin 
in  the  Eastern  Empire,  in  the  effort  of  individuals  to  escape 
from  sin  by  withdrawing  into  the  wilderness,  where  they 
hoped  to  avoid  temptation  by  escaping  all  contact  with  men 
and  society.  These  were  the  original  hermits,  and  the 
practice  was  at  first  without  system  or  any  rule  of  life. 
But  as  the  number  of  such  recluses  increased  rapidly  they 
began  to  form  communities  and  to  take  on  something  of  an 
organization.  It  was  in  the  Western  Empire,  however, 
rather  than  in  the  Eastern,  and  at  a  later  time,  that  the 
great  monastic  orders  arose. 

113.  Christianity  recognized  by  the  State. — Whether 
Constantine  was  moved  to  his  acts  in  favor  of  Christianity 
by  a  conviction  of  its  truth  or  not  has  long  been  a  subject 
of  dispute.  He  was  probably  more  strongly  influenced  by 
motives  of  policy,  as  has  already  been  said,  and  it  was  cer- 
tainly a  wise  step  from  policy  alone,  for,  aside  from  its 
strong  organization,  the  Christian  society  now  contained  the 
most  vigorous  and  energetic  elements  of  the  population. 
It  must  not  be  supposed,  however,  that  Constantine  made 
Christianity  the  religion  of  the  state.  The  most  that  he 
did  was  to  make  it  a  legal  religion,  under  the  protection  of 
the  state  and  on  the  same  footing  as  paganism,  and  to  allow 
the  influence  of  the  court  to  be  exerted  in  its  favor.  In 
324  he  advised,  by  edict,  his  subjects  to  become  Christians. 
In  325  he  presided  over  the  great  council  of  Nicaea,  in  which 
representatives  of  the  whole  Christian  world  met  to  discuss 
the  question  of  the  divinity  of  Christ,  denied  by  the  fol- 
lowers of  Arius.  He  thus  made  Christianity  the  religion  of 
the  court,  and  in  some  sense  put  himself  at  the  head  of  the 
church,  but  Paganism  was  still  legal  and  still  the  formal  reli- 
gion of  the  law. 


§  IJ3]       Christianity  recognized  by  the  State         125 

The  effect  of  Constantine's  step  was,  however,  enormously  Effect  upon 
to  the  advantage  of  the  church.  Christianity  became  popu-  the  church. 
lar,  and  even  fashionable.  The  numbers  and  influence  of 
the  Christians  increased  rapidly.  The  government  of  the 
church  took  on  more  and  more  the  monarchical  form  to 
which  it  had  been  tending,  and  became  constantly  more 
powerful  as  the  Roman  state  was  growing  weaker.  Before 
the  end  of  the  fourth  century  paganism  was  made  illegal, 
and  the  triumph  of  Christianity  was  complete. 


Topics 

Christianity  at  the  death  of  Christ.  Its  first  advance.  The  church 
at  Rome.  Why  did  the  good  emperors  persecute  the  Christians? 
What  causes  led  to  the  growth  of  a  governmental  organization  in  the 
church?  Why  would  the  Empire  naturally  be  taken  as  a  model? 
How  did  monasticism  originate  ?  What  motives  of  policy  would  lead 
Constantine  to  recognize  Christianity?  What  was  the  effect  upon  the 
church? 

Topics  for  Assigned  Studies 

Constantine's  recognition  of  Christianity  and  its  results.  Carr,  Church 
and  Roman  Empire  (Epochs,  Ch.  Hist.),  Chap.  IV.  Uhlhorn, 
Conflict,  420-444.  Schaff,  Church  History,  III.  w-yj.  Alzog, 
Church  History,  I.  463-473. 

The  primitive  church  organization.  Schaff,  Church  History,  I.,  Chap. 
X.  Alzog,  Church  History,  I.  195-206.  Hatch,  Organization, 
Lect.  II.  Allen,  Institutions,  Chaps.  II.  and  III.  A  very  valuable 
statement  of  the  position  of  the  best  scholars  of  the  Catholic 
church  is  to  be  found  in  an  article  in  the  Revue  des  Questions 
Historiques,  Vol.  XLIV.  329-384,  by  the  Jesuit  Father  De  Smedt, 
president  of  the  Bollandists. 

Monasticism.  Kingsley,  The  Hermits.  (Macmillan.)  On  early 
monasticism,  containing  translations  from  the  original  lives  of  its 
founders.  See  also  story  of  St.  Columban,  Milman,  Latin  Chris- 
tianity, II.  237-247,  and  translation  of  his  life  by  Jonas  in  Penn. 
II.,  No.  VII.  The  rule  of  St.  Benedict,  in  Henderson,  274-314, 
and  of  St.  Francis,  344-349.  See  Daily  Life  in  a  Mediceval 
Monastery,  in  Jessopp,  Coming  of  the  Friars  (Putnam),  and 
in  Nineteenth  Century,  Jan.,  1884;  and  Allen,  Christian  In- 
stitutions,  137-178.      Also  Fling,  Studies,  II.,  No.  6, 


CHAPTER   III 


THE   LAST  AGE  OF   ROME 


A  fair  degree 
of  prosperity 
and  security. 


Julian  "the 
apostate." 
Gardner, 
Julian 
(Heroes); 
King,  Julian 
the  Empe- 
rors Works 
(Bohn); 
Julian  and 
the  Germans, 
Zeller,  I. 


Disease 
within  and 
attack  from 
without. 


114.  Character  of  the  Fourth  Century.  — The  reforms  of 
Diocletian  and  of  Constantine  began  the  last  age  of  pros- 
perity of  the  Roman  Empire.  The  frontiers  during  three- 
quarters  of  the  fourth  century  were  preserved  from  any 
permanent  break,  and  within  the  Empire  there  was  a  fair 
degree  of  security.  Civil  Wars  for  the  possession  of  the 
throne  did  not  cease.  Constantine  showed  during  his  reign 
a  very  cruel  disposition,  and  this  nature  descended  to  his 
sons.  To  secure  their  possession  of  power  they  murdered 
all  their  relatives,  their  cousin  Julian  escaping  only  because 
of  his  youth.  But  the  brothers  quarrelled  among  themselves 
and  had  usurpers  to  resist,  and  after  some  years  but  one 
survived,  Constantius,  sole  emperor  for  a  time. 

In  360  Julian  was  proclaimed  emperor  by  his  soldiers 
in  Gaul,  against  his  will,  and  by  the  speedy  death  of  his 
cousin  obtained  the  whole  Empire.  His  reign  of  three  years 
is  famous  for  his  attempt  to  restore  paganism  to  the  suprem- 
acy which  it  had  lost.  Direct  persecution  was  not  pos- 
sible, but  he  tried  to  exclude  the  Christians  from  the  means 
of  education  and  to  throw  contempt  upon  the  religion  in 
every  way  possible.  The  attempt  proved  a  failure  and  was 
never  renewed.  Julian  was  the  last  of  the  family  of  Constan- 
tine to  reign,  and  after  him  emperors  chosen  by  the  armies 
were  engaged  in  a  constant  struggle,  rapidly  becoming  hope- 
less, to  protect  the  frontiers. 

115.  Causes  of  the  Fall  of  Rome.  —  During  these  cen- 
turies since  Augustus,  despite  all  reforms  and  every  tempo- 

126 


§115]  Causes  of  the  Fall  of  Rome  127 

rary  restoration  of  strength,  the  double  progress  of  disease 

within  and  attack  from  without  was  steadily  going  on,  and 

became  increasingly  difficult  to  resist.     Of  these  two  dangers 

the  one  which  was  fatal  in  the  end  was  that  from  internal 

disease,  for  Rome  fell  not  so  much  because  the  attack  from 

without  was  stronger,  as  because  she  could  no  longer  resist 

it  with  her  earlier  strength. 

It  is  not  possible  to  explain  briefly  this  decay  of  Roman  Chiefly 

strength.     Its  causes  were  mainly  economic.     The  univer-   economic 
o  J  causes. 

sal  use  of  slaves,  which  is  a  very  wasteful  means  of  produc- 
tion, wasting  both  men  and  capital,  and  one  that  makes  free 
labor  degrading ;  heavy  taxes  which  were  so  collected  that 
the  burden  of  them  rested  with  killing  weight  on  the  middle 
class ;  a  debased  currency,  giving  a  very  unsteady  standard 
of  value ;  a  practice,  begun  in  the  last  days  of  the  Republic, 
of  feeding  a  part  of  the  city  population  at  the  expense  of 
the  state,  making  an  idle  and  dangerous  mob  and  constantly 
tempting  the  middle  class  to  give  up  the  hopeless  struggle 
with  taxes,  slave  competition,  uncertain  prices,  and  declin- 
ing production,  and  take  life  easy  at  the  public  cost  j  official 
corruption,  which,  in  spite  of  all  the  efforts  of  the  emperors 
and  of  temporary  reforms,  continued  to  look  upon  public 
trusts  as  sources  of  private  wealth ;  a  general  decay  of  the 
earlier  Roman  manhood  and  moral  strength,  which  greatly 
weakened  the  army  and  the  resisting  power  of  the  whole 
Empire ;  and  a  decline  of  the  population,  which  no  effort  of 
the  state  seemed  able  to  check. 

Causes  like  these  exhausted  the  resources  of  Rome  in  The  Empire 
men  and  capital.     Thousands  of  Germans  had  been  colo-   Germanized 

before  its 

nized  in  the  Empire  before  the  conquest.  The  army  was  fall# 
largely  barbarian.  The  soldiers  spoke  German  and  fought 
in  the  German  style.  Comparatively  little  was  left  on  the 
eve  of  the  conquest  that  really  belonged  to  Rome,  except 
—  her  best  gifts  to  the  world  —  her  language,  law,  and  insti- 
tutions, and  the  idea  of  her  universal  and  eternal  empire, 
which  Christian  and  German  believed  as  implicitly  as  did  the 
pagan  Roman  of  Vergil's  day. 


128 


The  Last  Age  of  Rome 


[§116 


The  origin  of 
serfdom. 


Arnold, 
Roman   Pro- 
vincial Ad- 
ministration, 
161-164; 
Bury,  Later 
Empire, 
I.  28-29 ; 
1 1. 418-421. 


116.  From  Slavery  to  Serfdom. — The  economic  condi- 
tion of  the  Empire  during  the  age  of  its  decline  led  to 
some  changes  which  had  most  permanent  and  beneficial 
consequences.  They  made  the  beginning  of  the  transform- 
ation of  the  class  of  manual  laborers  from  slaves  into  serfs. 
These  changes  were  made  under  quite  a  variety  of  different 
forms  and  for  several  different  reasons,  but  we  may  say  that 
the  most  prevailing  reason  was  the  growing  scarcity  of  labor- 
ers and  the  difficulty  of  keeping  the  lands  of  the  Empire  in 
cultivation.     To  secure  this  result  the  right  of  the  master  to 


German  Bodyguard,  Column  of  M.  Aurelius 


sell  his  slaves  was  in  certain  cases  taken  away,  and  the  slaves 
were  fixed  by  law  to  little  pieces  of  land  which  they  were 
required  to  cultivate.  The  state  did  not  do  this  in  order  to 
improve  the  condition  of  the  slave.  Its  only  object  was  to 
keep  up  the  supply  of  food.  But  in  doing  so  it  gave  to  the 
slave,  who  had  before  had  no  rights  at  all,  a  certain  very 
limited  number  of  rights  which  the  master  could  not  take 
away.  Looked  at  from  the  side  of  slavery  this  was  a  great 
step  in  advance,  and  in  the  history  of  the  laboring  class  serf- 
dom is  the  stage  through  which  it  passes  in  advancing  from 
slavery  to  freedom. 


§ii7]  The  Attacks  upon  the  Frontiers  129 

117.  The  Attacks  upon  the  Frontiers. — While  political  Resistance 
and  economic  disease  within  was  thus  steadily  sapping  the  no  lonser 
strength  of  the  Empire,  attacks  almost  without  a  pause  on 
every  frontier  revealed  the  presence  of  dangers  which  it 
would  have  required  the  resources  of  the  best  days  of  Rome 
to  overcome.  The  resistance  had  been  long  and  obstinate, 
fairly  successful  for  four  hundred  years,  but  we  have  now 
reached  the  point  when  it  breaks  down,  because  the  re- 
sources of  the  Empire  would  no  longer  sustain  it,  and  new 
races  take  possession  of  the  provinces. 

On  the  eastern  frontier  the  struggle  was  with  a  renewed  a  new  Per- 
and  powerful  Persian  empire  under  the  Sassanid  dynasty.   sian  empire. 
This  family  had  arisen  early  in  the  third  century,  and  from   Ch     ym 
that  time  had  waged  many  and  fierce  wars  to  push  their 
dominions  towards  the  West  over  Roman  territories.    Jovian, 
the  successor  of  Julian,  was  obliged  at  last  to  yield  them  five 
provinces,  and  their  gains  might  have  continued  if  they  had 
not  been  involved,  as  the  Empire  was,  in  the  great  danger 
that  swept  down  from  the  north  of  Asia  on  all  the  south, 
the  invasion  of  the  Huns. 

On  the  western  frontier  Rome's  enemies  were  the  Ger-  The  German 
mans,  and  it  was  their  attack  which  was  finally  fatal  to  the  attack  is  the 
Empire.     Ever  since  the  day  when  Julius  Caesar  had  turned   q^™' 
back  the  invasion  of  Ariovistus,  the  German  king,  this  conflict  Chap.  IX. 
had  been  going  on.     For  the  first  century  and  a  half  the 
trials  of  strength  came  only  at  considerable  intervals,  and 
the  Romans  were  sometimes  at  least  the  attacking  party, 
trying  to  teach  the  Teutonic  tribes  respect  for  their  arms  by 
a  raid  into  Germany.      With  the  reign  of  Marcus  Aurelius 
the  attack  of  the  Germans  became  more  determined  and 
more  like  an  organized  invasion,  and  the  defence  of  the 
Romans  more  desperate. 

As  the  decline  of  population  in  the  Empire  became  seri-   Germans 
ous,  and  the  difficulty  of  keeping  up  the  army  greater,  large   also  defend 

1  r-  ^  <.      *      1         ,      ,       .  «•  *   j    the  Empire. 

numbers  of  Germans  and  of  other  barbarians  were  enlisted 
as  soldiers  in  the  service  of  the  emperors,  and  even  whole 
tribes,  or  portions  of  tribes,  were  in  some  instances  settled 

K 


130 


The  Last  Age  of  Rome 


[§u8 


In  an  early 

stage  of 

civilization. 

Tacitus, 

Germania, 

translation 


in  lands  which  had  become  vacant  within  the  borders.  It 
was  a  dangerous  expedient,  but  they  proved,  on  the  whole, 
faithful  to  their  engagements  so  long  as  there  was  anything 
left  to  which  they  could  be  faithful. 

118  The  Characteristics  of  the  Germans. — These  Ger- 
mans were  still  a  primitive  people,  in  a  stage  of  develop- 
ment corresponding  to  that  of  the  earliest  days  of  Greek 
and  Roman  history.  Their  governments  were  tribal.  Some 
of  the  tribes  had  kings  of  the  Homeric  type,  exercising  a 


GERMAN  SETTLEMENT,  TIME  OF  TACITUS 


of  Church 

and 

Brodribb; 

also  in  In- 
diana, No. 
9:  Fling, 
Studies, 
II.,  No.  2. 


limited  authority,  with  councils  of  elders  and  nobles  and  a 
public  assembly  of  the  people.  Other  tribes,  like  our  own 
Saxon  forefathers,  had  not  advanced  even  as  far  as  this,  and 
scarcely  had  a  common  political  organization.  In  habits  of 
life  and  manners  and  customs,  both  in  war  and  peace,  they 
were  in  many  ways  like  the  more  advanced  North  American 
Indians.  Their  agriculture  was  simple.  War  was  a  favorite 
occupation  of  the  men,  and  in  peace  they  spent  much  of 
their  time  in  the  chase  and  in  drinking  and  gambling.  On 
the  other  hand,  in  many  of  their  political  and  ethical  ideas, 
they  were  much  above  the  ordinary  barbarian.     They  had  a 


ii9,  I2°]       The  Goths  cross  the  Danube 


131 


simple  religion  of  nature  gods,  with  some  darker  supersti- 
tions. Their  regard  for  woman  and  their  standard  of 
morals  were  high.  Their  criminal  law  was  crude,  but  based 
upon  sound  and  just  principles,  and  their  method  of  trying 
the  accused,  though  attaching  great  importance  to  the  fol- 
lowing of  certain  fixed  forms,  really  provided  for  a  decision 
of  the  important  points  of  the  case  by  the  public  opinion  of 
the  community.  In  political  questions,  also,  like  war  and 
peace,  or  the  choice  of  magistrates,  the  public  opinion  of 
the  tribe  had  the  final  decision. 

119.  The  Third  and  Fourth  Centuries.  —  The  middle  and 
last  part  of  the  third  century  was  the  most  terrible  age  of 
this  conflict,  at  least  until  the  final  ruin  came.  The  Ale- 
manni  burst  through  the  barriers  in  the  West,  and  appearing 
in  northern  Italy  threatened  Milan.  The  Goths  crossed  the 
Danube  and  invaded  the  Eastern  Empire,  killed  the  emperor 
Decius,  even  crossed  the  Bosphorus,  and,  finally,  carried  off 
great  plunder.  The  Illyrian  emperors  restored  the  frontiers, 
but  only  with  great  difficulty.  In  the  first  part  of  the  fourth 
century  the  German  attack  lessened  in  severity,  but  only  to 
be  renewed  again  after  a  couple  of  generations  of  compara- 
tive security.  Julian  had  another  fierce  conflict  with  the 
Alemanni,  and  overcame  them  only  with  an  army  so  largely 
made  up  of  Germans  that,  when  they  proclaimed  him  em- 
peror they  put  him  up  on  their  shields  after  the  German 
fashion. 

120.  The  Goths  cross  the  Danube. — The  final  breaking 
down  of  the  frontier  defences  was  the  result  of  the  attempt 
of  the  Germans  to  escape  from  a  still  fiercer  race  of  war- 
riors which  had  attacked  them  from  the  East.  These  were 
the  Huns,  a  Tartar  tribe  from  northern  Asia,  who  fell  first 
upon  the  kingdom  of  the  Goths  which  occupied  at  that  time 
a  considerable  portion  of  European  Russia.  When  they 
could  not  resist  further,  the  two  divisions  of  the  Goths  fol- 
lowed different  counsels.  The  Ostrogoths,  or  East  Goths, 
submitted  to  the  Huns  and  became  their  subjects ;  the 
Visigoths,  or  West  Goths,  fell  back  before  their  advance, 


Extracts 
from  the  law 
of  the  Salic 
Franks, 
Henderson, 
176-189. 
Forms  of 
trial,  Penn. 
II.,  No.  IV., 
and  Hender- 
son, 314. 

The  frontiers 
often  broken 
and  restored 
with  diffi- 
culty. 
Freytag, 
Ingo;  Dahn, 
Felicitas 
(novels). 


The  attack  of 
the  Huns. 
Hodgkin, 
Italy,  Vol. 
II.,  Chap.  I.; 
Gibbon, 
Chap. 
XXVI. 


132 


The  Last  Age  of  Rome        [§§  121,  122 


Hodgkin, 

Italy, 

I.  250-256. 


The  battle  of 

Hadrian- 

ople,  378. 

Oman, 

Byzantine 

Empire 

(Nations), 

Chap.  III.; 

Hodgkin, 

Italy, 

I.  271-275. 

The  last 
great  em- 
peror of  the 
united  Em- 
pire, 379-395- 
Hodgkin, 
Dynasty  of 
Theodosius 
(Clarendon), 
Lect.  IV. 


Alaric,  king 
of  the 
Visigoths. 
Bury,  Em- 
pire, Bk.  II., 
Chap.  IV.; 
Hodgkin, 
Dynasty  of 
Theodosius, 
Lect.  V. ; 
Gibbon, 
Chaps.  XXX. 
and  XXXI. 


and  coming  to  the  Danube  besought  the  Romans  to  take 
them  within  the  frontier.  This  the  Romans  agreed  to,  the 
Goths  surrendering  their  arms  and  giving  hostages  for  their 
good  conduct. 

It  is  likely  that  the  Goths  would  have  kept  the  peace  but 
for  the  injustice  of  the  Roman  officers  who  had  charge  of 
the  arrangements.  They  were  trying  to  make  all  the  money 
they  could  out  of  the  business,  and  they  finally  allowed  the 
Goths  to  buy  back  the  arms  they  had  surrendered.  Then 
they  rose  and  marched  towards  Constantinople.  The  em- 
peror Valens  foolishly  risked  battle  without  waiting  for 
reinforcements,  and  was  totally  defeated  and  slain. 

121.  Theodosius  the  Great.  —  The  new  emperor,  who 
shortly  was  given  the  throne  in  the  East,  Theodosius,  a 
man  of  great  ability,  succeeded  in  settling  the  Goths  in 
territories  south  of  the  Danube,  which  they  agreed  to 
defend.  During  his  reign  of  about  twenty  years  they 
remained    faithful    to    the    Empire. 

Theodosius  united  for  some  years  the  whole  Empire  under 
his  rule,  but  this  was  for  the  last  time  in  history.  On  his 
death,  in  395,  it  was  divided  between  his  two  sons,  Honorius 
becoming  emperor  in  the  West,  and  Arcadius  in  the  East, 
and  the  Empire  was  never  again  united  except  in  mere 
form. 

122.  The  Invasions  of  Alaric.  —  Theodosius'  death  was 
the  signal  also  for  the  Visigoths  to  attempt  new  conquests, 
or  this  may  have  been  because  the  young  and  ambitious 
Alaric  came  to  their  throne  at  about  the  same  time.  They 
marched  into  Greece  plundering  and  destroying,  passed 
Athens,  and  went  on  into  the  Peloponnesus.  Here  their 
course  was  checked  by  an  army  from  the  West  under 
Stilicho,  a  Vandal,  who  was  the  commander  of  the  forces 
of  Honorius.  Alaric  escaped  from  Stilicho  with  his  army, 
and  crossed  into  Epirus,  but  was  persuaded  to  settle  down 
in  Illyricum  as  Roman  commander  in  that  province.  Here 
he  could  make  preparations  for  an  attack  on  either  half  of 
the  Empire  as  circumstances  might  invite. 


§§  i23,  I24]    Rome's  German  Defender  sacrificed     133 

In  402  he  set  his  army  in  motion  again  and  this  time 
attacked  the  West.  Descending  into  the  valley  of  the  Po, 
he  threatened  Milan,  and  began  the  siege  of  Asti  where  the 
emperor  had  taken  refuge.  Again  Stilicho  saved  the  Empire, 
and  drove  him  back,  but  he  only  retired  to  the  head  of  the 
Adriatic  and  waited  for  another  opportunity. 

123.  The  Breaking  of  the  Rhine  Frontier.  —  Meantime   The  Ger- 
events  had  taken  place  in  Germany  which  led  to  the  speedy  ™na£s  ^hed 
collapse  of  the  Roman  power.     The  Huns  had  pushed  their   Huns, 
conquests  towards  the  West,  and  many  of  the  Germans, 
representing  several  tribes,  falling  back  before  their  advance, 

had  collected  on  the  east  side  of  the  upper  Rhine,  waiting 
an  opportunity  to  pass  over  into  Gaul.  From  these  a  large 
force  of  various  tribes  under  Radagaisus  turned  south  and 
invaded  Italy.  Stilicho  met  them  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Florence,  surrounded  them  with  his  army,  and  starved  them 
into  submission.  Rome  was  relieved  of  this  danger,  but  it 
was  her  last  success  in  Italy. 

On  the  last  day  of  the  year  406  the  Germans  who  had  The  occu- 
not  joined  the  expedition  of  Radagaisus  forced  the  passage   Q^u°n  ( 
of  the  Rhine  and  entered  Gaul.     The  most  important  of  Zeiler,  1. 
these  tribes  were  three,  the  Suevi,  the  Vandals,  and  the  Bur- 
gundians.     The   Burgundians  settled  in  the  country  about 
the  upper  Rhine  which  still  bears  their  name,  and   soon 
were  able  to  make  a  treaty  with  the  Romans  by  which  their 
occupation  received  the  sanction  of  the  emperors  and  they 
were  recognized  as  a  Roman   army   of  occupation.     The 
Suevi  and  Vandals,  after  spending  some  time  in  plundering 
Gaul,  passed  through  the  Pyrenees  and  took  possession  of 
Spain,   which   they   made   into  kingdoms    for  themselves. 
Rome  never  recovered  any  real  control  of  Gaul. 

124.  Rome's  German  Defender  sacrificed.  —  Shortly  after  The  death  of 
this  breaking  of  the  Rhine  frontier,  Stilicho  was  put  to  death  Stilicho  the 

t       r  •  ,  1  •  •  ,„■  ,    ,  •  x.    Vandal,  408. 

as  the  result  of  a  conspiracy  of  his  enemies.     With  his  great  Hodgkin, 

enemy  out  of  the  way  Alaric  knew  that  his  opportunity  had  Italy,  L, 

come,  and  he  came  down  into  Italy  once  more.     This  time  £*>ap.  XVI. ; 
there  was  no  one  to  turn  him  back.     In  410  Rome  was 


134 


The  Last  Age  of  Rome 


[§  125 


The  Vandals 

occupy 

Africa,  429. 

Curteis, 

Roman 

Empire, 

Chap.  VII.; 

Hodgkin, 

Dynasty  of 

Theodosius. 

Lect.  VII. 


Attila  in- 
vades Gaul, 

4Si. 

Hodgkin, 
Dynasty  of 
Theodosius, 
Lect.  VI. ; 
Curteis, 
Roman 
Empire, 
Chap.  VIII.; 
Zeller,  I. 


He  invades 
Italy,  452. 
Carr,  Church 
and  Roman 
Empire, 
Chap.  XXI 1 1. 


taken  and  sacked.  But  Italy  was  not  to  belong  to  the 
Visigoth.  Alaric  died  in  the  south  soon  after  the  capture 
of  Rome,  and  the  new  king  led  the  nation  into  southern 
Gaul.  There  they  settled  down  to  live  under  an  arrange- 
ment with  the  emperor,  whose  sister  was  married  to  their 
king,  and  from  there  they  extended  their  rule  over  Spain, 
gradually  conquering  the  Suevi  and  Vandals  who  had  occu- 
pied that  country  earlier. 

A  few  years  later  an  opportunity  came  to  the  Vandals  to 
cross  over  into  Africa,  a  province  which  up  to  that  time  had 
not  been  plundered  by  the  Germans.  The  story  goes  that 
they  were  invited  to  make  the  invasion  by  the  Roman 
officer  in  command.  At  any  rate  there  was  civil  war 
among  the  Romans  in  the  province,  and  the  Vandals  easily 
conquered  it,  and  made  Carthage  the  capital  of  a  new 
kingdom  which  soon  became,  like  the  old  Carthage,  a  great 
naval  power  in  the  Mediterranean.  In  455  in  one  of  their 
raids  they  stormed  the  city  of  Rome  and  carried  off  a  great 
booty. 

125.  The  Invasions  of  the  Huns.  — Just  before  this  hap- 
pened, however,  the  smitten  Empire  had  made  its  last 
desperate  attempt  at  self-defence.  Attila,  the  young  king 
of  the  Huns,  at  the  head  of  a  great  army  composed  of  his 
own  people  and  of  the  German  tribes  who  had  submitted  to 
their  rule,  invaded  Gaul,  and  threatened  to  sweep  all  before 
him.  By  a  heroic  effort  the  Roman  commander,  Aetius, 
"  the  last  of  the  Romans,"  succeeded  in  getting  together  an 
army  strong  enough  to  oppose  him.  It  was  made  up,  how- 
ever, largely  of  Germans.  The  army  of  the  Visigoths  was 
there,  led  by  their  king,  and  Franks  also  aided  in  the  de- 
fence of  the  Empire.  The  great  battle  at  Chalons- sur- 
Marne,  called  sometimes  the  battle  of  the  nations,  was 
desperately  fought  and  not  decisive,  but  Attila's  loss  was  so 
heavy  that  he  decided  to  give  up  the  attempt.  The  next 
year  he  entered  Italy  with  another  army.  Aetius  was  this 
time  unable  to  meet  him,  but  we  are  told  that  the  pope, 
Leo  Lj  came  to  the  help  of  the  Empire  and  persuaded  the 


§  i26]  The  End  of  the    Western  Empire 


135 


Hun  to  turn  back.  The  story  is  very  possibly  true.  At 
any  rate,  for  some  reason  Attila  did  abandon  the  attack, 
and  Italy  was  saved.  In  the  following  year  he  died,  and  his 
empire  fell  apart,  the  Huns  remaining  in  the  Danube  valley 
and  the  German  tribes  becoming  independent. 

126.  The  End  of  the  Western  Empire.  —  Already  the 
Saxon  settlements  had  begun  in  Britain,  and  now  not  a 
province  of  the  Western  Empire  was  really  Roman.  Italy 
kept  up  the  pretence  of  being  so  for  some  years  yet,  and 
the  throne  was  occupied  by  some  one  who  called  himself  by 
the  title  of  emperor,  but  the  army  was  German  and  its  Ger- 
man commander  was  the  real  ruler  of  the  country.  Finally 
this  army  revolted,  made  a  German,  Odovakar,  king  in  the 
German  fashion,  deposed  the  emperor  Romulus  Augustulus, 
and  sent  to  Constantinople  the  imperial  insignia,  saying  that 
one  emperor  for  the  whole  Empire  was  sufficient.  This 
meant,  of  course,  though  they  might  express  it  differently,  that 
Italy  had  now  become  a  German  kingdom  like  the  other 
provinces  of  the  West. 

The  date  of  this  event,  476,  is  usually  taken  as  the  date 
to  separate  "  ancient "  from  "  medieval "  history,  and  it 
serves  as  well  for  the  purpose  as  any  date,  if  such  a  division 
is  to  be  made,  for  it  does  mark  in  a  somewhat  striking  way 
the  great  fact  which  makes  a  real  separation  —  the  fall  of 
the  Roman  power  and  the  coming  in  of  the  Germans.  But 
it  must  not  be  thought  that  this  event  seemed  especially 
significant  to  the  people  who  were  living  at  the  time  or  that 
they  were  at  all  conscious  of  any  passage  from  one  age  of 
history  to  another.  It  was  to  them  an  incident  like  a  great 
many  others  which  were  happening  on  all  hands,  and  they 
were  able  easily  to  persuade  themselves  that  Rome  con- 
tinued, for  was  there  not  an  emperor  of  Rome  reigning  all 
the  time  at  Constantinople.  To  after  ages,  which  realized 
more  clearly  that  the  West  had  ceased  to  be  Roman,  this 
dramatic  surrender  of  the  title  seemed  to  mark  the  close 
of  a  great  period  in  history. 


Nominal 
emperors 
and  German 
rulers. 


136  The  Last  Age  of  Rome 


Topics 

The  last  age  of  prosperity.  The  attempt  of  Julian  against  Chris- 
tianity. The  economic  diseases  of  the  Roman  Empire.  What  was  the 
real  reason  why  Rome  could  no  longer  resist  the  Germans?  How 
does  a  serf  differ  from  a  slave?  What  frontiers  were  especially  subject 
to  attack?  The  Germans  on  the  side  of  Rome.  The  civilization  of 
the  Germans.  The  events  which  led  to  the  battle  of  Hadrianople. 
The  final  division  of  the  Empire.  Alaric  and  Stilicho.  The  name  and 
place  of  settlement  of  each  of  the  German  tribes  occupying  the  Western 
Empire.  The  history  of  Attila.  What  happened  in  the  year  476,  and 
the  meaning  of  the  event? 

Topics  for  Assigned  Studies 

The  causes  of  the  fall  of  Rome.  Hodgkin,  Italy,  Vol.  II.,  Chap.  IX., 
and  an  article  in  the  Contemporary  Review,  Jan.,  1898.  Seeley, 
Roman  Imperialism,  Lecture  II.  Bury,  Later  Roman  Empire, 
Book  I.,  Chap.  III.  Adams,  Civilization  during  the  Middle 
Ages,   76-87. 

A  glimpse  of  Hun  life.  Bury,  Later  Empire,  Book  II.,  Chap.  XI., 
a  translation. 

The  end  of  the  Western  Empire  in  476.  Bryce,  Holy  Roman  Empire, 
Chap.  III.  Hodgkin,  Italy,  II.,  Chap.  VIII.  Bury,  Later  Em- 
pire,  Book  III.,  Chap.  V. 


German  Weapons 


CHAPTER   IV 


THE  FOUNDING  OF  THE  GERMAN  STATES 


127.  A  Second  Period  of  German  Conquests.  —  With  all 
their  appearance  of  success  these  first  German  states  were 
not  destined  to  be  permanent.  Another  series  of  conquests 
followed  these  earlier  ones,  made  by  tribes  which  were  not 
directly  impelled  by  the  attack  of  the  Huns,  and  theirs  were 
the  states  which  grew  into  the  modern  nations. 

The  Franks  were  the  first  to  begin  the  new  movement. 
A  part  of  their  race  had  been  allowed  by  the  Romans  to 
occupy  lands  along  the  western  bank  of  the  Rhine  long 
before  that  frontier  was  finally  broken.  They  were  not 
always  peaceable  allies  of  the  Empire,  but  they  continued 
to  hold  these  lands ;  their  numbers  were  increased  after 
the  invasion  of  406 ;  and  when  they  began  their  career 
of  conquest  they  were  occupying  the  territory  on  both  sides 
of  the  middle  and  lower  Rhine.  Their  conquests  differed 
from  those  of  all  the  other  German  tribes  in  the  important 
fact  that  they  were  an  expansion,  the  Franks  spreading  out 
in  all  directions  while  they  still  retained  possession  of  their 
original  home  as  the  centre  of  their  dominion. 

128.  The  Founder  of  the  Frankish  Empire. — Clovis  was 
the  founder  of  the  greatness  of  his  race.  He  was  the  king, 
at  the  beginning  of  his  career,  of  a  small  subdivision  or  clan 
of  the  Franks  on  the  Roman  side  of  the  river,  with  Tournai 
as  his  capital,  for  at  this  time  the  Franks  were  in  a  somewhat 
backward  stage  of  political  development  and  had  no  com- 
mon or  national  government,  but  several  kings  of  tribal 
subdivisions.     This  gives  us  the  double  task  in  which  Clovis 

i37 


The  first  con- 
quests not 
permanent. 


The  Franks. 
Sergeant, 
The  Franks 
(Nations)  ; 
Freeman, 
The  Franks 
and  the 
Gauls,  in 
Historical 
Essays,  I. 
(Macmil- 
lan)  ;  Zeller, 
II. 


Clovis,  481- 
511.    Ser- 
geant, Chaps. 
VIII.  andX.; 
Gibbon, 
Chap.     • 
XXXVIII. 


138         The  Founding  of  the  German  States      [§  129 


His  first 

conquest; 

486. 


The 

Alemanni 

overcome. 


The  question 
of  the 
divinity  of 
Christ. 
Gwatkin, 
The  Arian 
Controversy 
(Epochs, 
Ch.  Hist.) ; 
Penn.  IV., 
No.  II. 


was  to  be  successful,  the  conquest  of  new  territory  and  the 
consolidation  of  his  own  race. 

To  the  west  of  Clovis,  in  north  central  Gaul,  lay  a  terri- 
tory which  had  not  as  yet  been  occupied  by  any  German 
tribe.  A  Roman  officer,  Syagrius,  commanded  here,  but  he 
was  of  course  really  independent,  and  he  is  called  by  the 
historian  of  the  Franks,  Gregory  of  Tours,  the  king  of  the 
Romans.  This  was  an  opportunity  for  Clovis,  and  with  a 
small  army  he  marched  against  Syagrius  and  completely  de- 
feated him  in  486.  In  territory  and  resources  this  was  a 
great  increase  of  Clovis'  power,  and  is  the  first  event  in  the 
history  of  the  empire  which  was  to  succeed  the  Roman. 

Ten  years  later  the  second  step  was  taken.  Clovis  led 
the  Franks  against  their  enemies  the  Alemanni,  who  held 
the  lands  to  the  southeast.  The  decisive  battle  was  hotly 
contested,  and  we  are  told  that  in  the  midst  of  it  Clovis 
cried  out  that  if  the  God  of  his  Christian  wife,  Clotilda, 
would  give  him  the  victory  he  would  become  his  follower. 
The  victory  was  gained.  The  Alemanni  were  conquered 
and  their  land  made  subject  to  the  Franks,  and  Clovis  kept 
his  promise. 

129.  Arian  versus  Catholic.  —  The  conversion  of  Clovis 
brings  us  to  a  fact  of  great  importance  in  the  history  of  the 
Christian  church  as  well  as  in  the  political  history  of  Europe. 
Early  in  the  fourth  century  a  theological  controversy  had 
arisen  in  Alexandria  on  the  question  of  the  divinity  of  Christ. 
Arius  and  his  followers,  called  Arians,  maintained  that  Christ 
was  not  God.  To  get  an  authoritative  decision  of  the  matter 
Constantine  called  the  first  great  council  of  the  church,  the 
council  of  Nic?ea,  in  325.  Its  decision  was  in  favor  of  the 
doctrine  of  Christ's  divinity,  but  this  did  not  finally  settle 
the  controversy,  and  for  a  considerable  portion  of  the  fourth 
century  the  government  of  the  Eastern  Empire  favored  the 
Arian  belief. 

The  West,  on  the  other  hand,  when  left  to  itself,  steadily 
favored  the  orthodox  view.  The  German  conquest  of  the 
fifth  century,  however,  threatened  the  church  of  the  West 


§  I3°l         Clovis  adopted  the  Catholic  Faith 


*39 


with  a  serious  danger  arising  from  this  question.  For  these 
Germans  had  been  converted  before  the  crossing  of  the 
Danube  by  missionaries  from  Constantinople  who  were 
Arians.  The  most  famous  of  these  missionaries,  Ulfilas, 
translated  nearly  all  the  Bible  into  Gothic,  and  the  fragments 
which  have  come  down  to  us  of  this  translation  are  our 
earliest  written  specimens  of  the  Teutonic  languages. 

When  the  Arian  German  became  the  ruler  of  the  provinces 
of  the  West,  the  difference  of  religious  belief  gave  rise  to 
constant  suspicion  between  himself  and  his  Romanized  sub- 
jects. The  Arian  was  nearly  always  liberal  and  did  not  try 
to  force  his  views  upon  others,  but  he  could  not  avoid  know- 
ing that  the  Catholic  looked  upon  him  as  a  heretic,  and  the 
suspicion  was  natural  that  the  rule  of  the  orthodox  emperor 
was  preferred  to  his  own,  and  that  conspiracies  to  establish 
it  might  be  constantly  expected.  Still  more  important  was 
the  fact  that  the  Arian  did  not  acknowledge  the  supremacy 
of  the  bishop  of  Rome,  even  in  the  undeveloped  form  of 
the  fifth  century.  The  permanence  of  this  faith,  therefore, 
in  the  West  would  mean  a  very  loose  organization  for  the 
church  there,  and  very  possibly  no  organization  at  all  but 
independence  and  separation,  which  in  turn  would  mean  a 
far  more  slowly  developing  civilization. 

130.  Clovis  adopted  the  Catholic  Faith.  —  The  Burgundi- 
ans  like  the  rest  were  Arians  at  the  time  of  their  settlement, 
but  a  portion  of  the  race  had  been  converted  to  Catholicism, 
and  Clovis'  wife  was  of  this  party.  Whether  he  was  led  by 
this  reason  or  by  the  obvious  advantage  which  he  might  ex- 
pect to  gain  if  he  were  a  Catholic  in  extending  his  con- 
quests over  his  Arian  neighbors,  Clovis  at  his  conversion 
adopted  the  Catholic  belief.  As  in  the  case  of  Constantine, 
Clovis'  conversion  made  no  apparent  change  in  his  charac- 
ter or  conduct,  and  the  real  importance  of  the  act  is  to  be 
found  in  its  political  consequences,  especially  in  the  fact 
that  he  thus  prepared  the  way  for  a  close  union  in  interest 
and  policy  between  the  papacy  and  the  Frankish  nation, 
which  was  of  the  greatest  value  to  them  both. 


The  Roman 
West 

Catholic,  the 
German 
Arian. 


A  source  of 
discord  be- 
tween rulers 
and  ruled. 


Clovis'  con- 
version not 
unlike  Con- 
stantine's. 
Sergeant, 
Franks, 
Chap.  IX. 


140       The  Founding  of  the  German  States  C§§  i3x>  x32 


The  Bur- 
gundians 
conquered. 
Sergeant, 
Chap.  X. 


The  Visi- 
goths also, 
507- 


The  Franks 
made  a 
nation. 


Results  of  the 
reign. 


131.  The  Last  Years  of  Clovis'  Reign.  —  Not  long  after 
his  conquest  of  the  Alemanni,  Clovis  attacked  the  Burgun- 
dians,  skilfully  fomenting  a  division  in  the  state.  At  first 
he  was  entirely  successful  and  reduced  the  country  to  the 
condition  of  a  tributary  state,  but  later  the  Burgundians  re- 
covered something  of  their  independence,  and  were  not 
incorporated  in  the  Frankish  dominions  until  after  the 
death  of  Clovis.  Next  came  the  turn  of  the  Visigoths, 
whose  territories  south  of  the  Loire  Clovis  naturally  coveted, 
and  who  could  be  attacked  as  Arians.  Again  Clovis  gained 
a  decisive  victory  and  would  have  annexed  all  the  territory 
to  the  Pyrenees  but  for  the  intervention  of  the  Ostrogothic 
king  Theodoric  from  Italy.  He  saved  Septimania  to  the 
Goths,  the  land  along  the  coast  of  the  Mediterranean,  and 
so  kept  open  a  line  of  communication  between  the  two 
Gothic  states. 

In  the  last  years  of  Clovis'  life  the  process  of  consolidat- 
ing the  Franks  into  a  nation  was  carried  to  completion. 
The  way  was  prepared  for  it  by  a  series  of  treasons  and 
murders  which  are  evidence  enough  that  his  conversion  had 
had  no  influence  on  the  character  or  conduct  of  the  Frank- 
ish king. 

Clovis  died  in  5 it,  after  the  accomplishment  of  a  great 
work.  If  we  consider  with  how  small  a  power  he  began, 
and  what  a  really  great  dominion  he  had  brought  together, 
the  solid  foundation  of  the  empire  which  was  to  be  the 
source  of  institutions  and  law  for  the  Middle  Ages,  we  can- 
not refuse  to  Clovis,  savage  though  he  was,  the  title  of  one 
of  the  great  men  of  history. 

132.  The  Ostrogoths  conquer  Italy.  —  During  the  years 
of  Clovis'  life  another  German  kingdom  had  been  founded 
which  deserved  a  better  fate  than  awaited  it,  by  a  man  as 
great  or  even  greater  than  Clovis.  After  the  death  of 
Attila,  the  Ostrogoths,  now  independent,  had  crossed  the 
Danube  and  settled  on  its  southern  side,  where  they  made 
an  arrangement  with  the  emperor  in  the  East.  About  the 
same  time  that  Clovis  became  the  king  of  the  Franks,  the 


§  J33]        The  Character  of  Theodoric  s  Rule 


141 


young  Theodoric  became  their  king.  Like  Alaric  and 
Attila  under  similar  circumstances,  he  was  probably  moved 
by  ambition  to  attempt  new  conquests. 

Italy  was  the  province  which  he  finally  selected  as  the 
seat  of  his  kingdom.  Here  Odovakar  was  still  in  power, 
and  Theodoric  did  not  find  it  an  easy  task  to  conquer  him. 
He  only  succeeded  in  the  end  by  murdering  Odovakar  with 
his  own  hand  after  a  nominal  peace  had  been  made  between 
them. 

133.  The  Character  of  Theodoric's  Rule.  —  This  act, 
however,  was  not  followed  by  others  like  it.  Theodoric's 
reign  was  wise  and  liberal.  He  seems  to  have  desired  to 
lead  the  two  races,  German  and  Roman,  to  live  in  harmony 
and  to  rule  as  the  king  of  all  his  people.  Though  he  was 
an  Arian,  he  respected  the  religion  of  his  Catholic  subjects 
and  did  not  persecute  them.  In  the  later  years  of  his  life, 
when  perhaps  his  mind  had  been  darkened  by  family  and 
public  misfortunes,  he  showed  more  of  the  disposition  of  a 
tyrant,  and  put  to  death  several  of  the  leading  Romans  on 
suspicion  of  conspiracies  to  restore  the  rule  of  the  emperor. 
Among  these  was  the  philosopher  Boethius,  whose  books 
were  in  such  common  use  during  the  Middle  Ages.  Out- 
side his  own  kingdom,  Theodoric's  influence  was  very  great 
over  all  the  Germans  of  the  West.  He  was  connected  with 
almost  all  the  states  by  marriage  alliances  or  other  ties,  and 
came  as  near  to  exercising  a  universal  rule  as  was  possible 
at  the  time.  For  twelve  years  during  the  minority  of  their 
king  he  acted  as  king  of  the  Visigoths,  and  the  two  parts  of 
the  race  were  united  again  as  they  had  been  before  the  attack 
of  the  Huns.  In  government,  Theodoric,  though  he  was  him- 
self a  German  king,  retained  much  of  the  machinery  of  the 
Roman  state,  and  there  promised  to  be  made  among  the 
Ostrogoths  a  thorough  and  early  union  of  the  two  sides  of 
future  civilization,  German  and  Roman. 

But  it  was  the  Franks  who  were  in  the  end  destined  to 
make  this  union  of  German  and  Roman,  and  not  the  Goths. 
No  king  like  Theodoric  came  after  him,  and  in  not  many 


Theodoric 
the  Great. 


The  conquest 
of  Italy, 
489-493. 


The  wisest 
and  best  of 
the  early  Ger- 
man kings. 
Bryce,  Holy 
Roman  Em- 
pire, 27-29. 


His  influence 
international. 


The  Ostro- 

gothic 

kingdom 

short-lived, 

493-555- 


142       The  Founding  of  the  German  States  [§§  *34?  135 


Divisions, 
artificial  and 
real. 


New 
conquests. 


The  "  do- 
nothing" 
kings. 

Zeller,  II. 


years  the  kingdom  of  the  Ostrogoths  was  overthrown  and 
the  race  annihilated. 

134.  The  Growth  of  the  Frankish  Power.  —  The  dominion 
of  the  Franks,  on  the  other  hand,  continued  to  grow.  Clovis' 
kingdom  was  divided  on  his  death  between  his  four  sons, 
and  divisions  of  the  kingdom  continue  to  be  frequent  in 
Frankish  history,  but  these  do  not  split  the  race  or  the 
empire  into  permanent  fragments.  Towards  the  west,  in 
the  lands  which  had  a  large  Roman  population,  the  Franks 
themselves  were  slowly  becoming  Romanized,  and  as  those 
to  the  east  remained  German  there  was  beginning  in  this 
way  a  division  in  the  race  which  was  to  be  permanent  and 
to  have  most  important  consequences  in  history.  It  was, 
however,  many  generations  before  these  consequences  be- 
gan to  appear. 

In  the  meantime  new  conquests  were  made.  The  Bur- 
gundians  were  annexed  and  received  a  Frankish  king.  The 
Visigothic  territories  in  southern  Gaul  were  more  com- 
pletely incorporated.  In  central  Germany  the  Thuringians 
were  conquered.  Finally,  southeastern  Germany  was  in- 
cluded, and  about  the  beginning  of  the  seventh  century  the 
Frankish  dominions  reached  their  widest  extent  for  this 
period,  covering  all  Gaul,  the  valley  of  the  Rhone,  and  cen- 
tral and  southern  Germany. 

135.  The  Decay  of  the  Merovingian  House. — At  this 
same  date  the  Merovingian  house,  the  family  of  Clovis,  en- 
tered upon  a  period  of  rapid  decay  and  exhaustion,  the 
period  of  the  faineant  or  do-nothing  kings.  The  savage 
passions  of  Clovis  descended  in  his  family.  Its  history  is 
full  of  treachery,  murder,  and  crimes  of  all  kinds.  In  the 
last  half  of  the  sixth  century  two  famous  queens,  Frede- 
gonda  and  Brunhilda,  strove  for  supremacy  and  triumph 
over  one  another,  in  a  most  barbarous  and  brutal  conflict 
from  which  begins  the  corruption  of  the  strength  of  the 
line.  Dagobert,  who  was  king  from  628  to  658,  was  the  last 
of  the  Merovingians  who  really  ruled.  After  him  the  con- 
trol of  the  state  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  great  officers 


§  :35]     TJie  Decay  of  the  Merovingian  House        143 

who  were  called  the  mayors  of  the  palace,  and  the  kings 
were  reduced  to  mere  shadows,  with  no  voice  in  the  con- 
duct of  affairs. 

The 
One  characteristic  of  the  Frankish  constitution  made  the   Frankish 

dissolution  of  government  comparatively  easy.      The  ma-   count. 


EUROPE 

About  525 

SCALE  OF  MILE8 

0       100      200       300     400 


4,0    %ongltude  Eatt t  fro m  Green ivirk 


E„rm<,yiCo.,N.r. 


chinery  of  the  state  was  very  simple.  The  chief  adminis- 
trative officer  was  the  count,  or  graf,  an  officer  of  the 
primitive  Germans  whose  duties  had  been  enlarged  under 
Roman  influence.  The  territory  of  the  state  was  divided 
into  districts  called  counties,  each  of  which  was  adminis- 


144       The  Founding  of  the  German  States  [§§  i36>  l37 


Changes  in 
Italy. 


Character  of 
the  Empire 
in  the  East. 


Justinian, 

527-565. 
Bury, 

Empire,  Bk. 
IV.,  Chap. 
II.;  Oman, 
Byzantine 
Empire 
(Nations), 
Chaps.  VI. 
and  VII. 


tered  by  a  count.  In  his  hands  were  concentrated  all  the 
various  functions  of  the  state.  He  collected  the  taxes,  ad- 
ministered and  enforced  the  laws,  presided  in  the  courts  of 
justice,  was  the  military  head  of  his  county,  and  repre- 
sented the  interests  of  the  state  in  all  directions.  So  much 
power  in  the  hands  of  an  individual,  who  was  often,  to  begin 
with,  one  of  the  great  landholders  of  his  county,  made  it 
very  easy  for  the  count,  especially  when  the  central  govern- 
ment was  weak,  as  in  the  age  of  the  "  do-nothing  "  Merovin- 
gians, to  throw  off  his  dependence  upon  the  government, 
and  become  practically  the  independent  ruler  of  a  little 
principality. 

136.  The  Roman  Empire  in  the  East.  —  In  the  meantime, 
the  Ostrogothic  kingdom  established  and  made  so  powerful 
had  come  to  an  end,  and  Italy  had  been  taken  possession 
of  by  another  German  race.  This  change  was  due  to  a 
sudden  revival  of  strength  in  the  eastern  half  of  the  Em- 
pire and  to  a  desire  of  the  emperor  to  rule  the  West  once 
more. 

Since  the  death  of  Theodosius  and  the  final  division  of 
the  Empire  the  East  had  taken  but  little  interest  in  the  af- 
fairs of  the  West.  Its  own  difficulties  were  enough  for  all 
its  strength.  To  be  sure  it  was  not  exposed  to  the  full  fury 
of  the  German  attack,  but  the  Huns  were  long  a  threaten- 
ing danger,  and  the  new  Persian  Empire  was  constantly 
trying  to  push  towards  the  West,  while  civil  and  religious 
strife  was  frequent  within  the  borders.  On  the  whole,  how- 
ever, the  Empire  in  the  East  was  well  maintained  through 
the  stormy  times  of  the  fifth  century. 

137.  The  Reign  of  Justinian.  —  Early  in  the  sixth  cen- 
tury, an  Illyrian  peasant,  Justin,  a  brave  soldier,  obtained 
the  throne,  and  prepared  the  way  for  his  nephew,  Justinian, 
whose  reign  is  the  last  great  period  in  what  may  be  called 
Roman  history  in  any  true  sense.  The  cherished  purpose 
of  Justinian  was  to  restore  the  old  Roman  Empire  by  the 
recovery  of  the  provinces  of  the  West  from  their  German 
conquerors.     Fortune  favored  him  in  this  purpose,  for  it 


§  J38]        Justinian  s  Work  for  Civilization  145 

gave  him  in  Belisarius  a  general  of  great  ability,  and  in  the 
weakness  and  dissensions  of  the  German  states  a  compara- 
tively easy  task. 

The  kingdom  of  the  Vandals  in  Africa  was  first  attacked.  The  Vandals 
They  had  never  got  on  well  with  their  subjects,  largely  be-  conciuered- 
cause  as  Arians  they  were  inclined  to  persecute  the  Catho- 
lics, and  the  provincials  stood  ready  to  welcome  the  conquest 
of  Justinian.  The  king  and  his  army  made  a  brave  defence, 
but  it  was  unskilful,  and  the  task  of  Belisarius  was  not  dif- 
ficult. The  province  of  Africa  remained  under  the  Em- 
pire of  the  East  until  its  conquest  by  the  Arabs  a  century 
later. 

Belisarius  was  next  sent  against  Italy.     There  he  found  a  The  fall  of 
task  which  required  all  his  powers.     The  Ostrogothic  race   the  °str°- 
was  not  as  strong  as  it  had  once  been,  but  its  resistance  was  Bury, 
long  and  heroic.     Once  when  everything  seemed  at  an  end  Empire,  Bk. 
they  recovered  possession  of  nearly  all  they  had  lost.     If  H^d  }*?'  " 
they   had   had   the   leadership  which   they   deserved   they    Theodoric 
might   have   been  successful,  but   they  were  not  fortunate    (Heroes), 
in  their  kings  and  the  protracted  conflict  undermined  their       ap' 
strength.     Finally  they  were  entirely  overcome  and  the  race 
was  practically  annihilated,  for  the  few  survivors  passed  into 
Spain  where  they  were  absorbed  in  the  Visigoths. 

In  Spain  a  civil  war  among  the  Visigoths  enabled  Justinian  A  part  of 
to  obtain  possession  of  some  territory  in  the  southeastern  J^*1"    d 
quarter,  but  there  his  successes  were  limited.     He  had  not 
reestablished  the  old  Empire  of  Rome,  but  he  had  taken 
vengeance  on  the  first  conquerors  of  the  West,  and  he  had 
added  new  strength  to  the  name  and  idea  of  the  Empire. 

138.  Justinian's  Work  for  Civilization. — The  greatness  Building, 
of  Justinian's  reign  is  not  measured  by  his  wars  alone.  He 
was  a  great  builder  both  of  fortresses  for  defence  and  of 
beautiful  buildings  like  the  church  of  St.  Sophia  in  Constan- 
tinople, and  the  revived  interest  in  architecture  in  his  reign 
long  influenced  the  art  of  building  even  in  the  West. 

But  his  greatest  title  to  fame  of  all  is  his  codification  of 
-  the  Roman  law.     In  this  work  the  great  body  of  the  Roman 


146        The  Founding  of  the  German  States       [§  139 


The  codifica- 
tion of  the 
Roman  law. 
Extracts 
from  the 
Institutes, 
Fling, 
Studies, 
No.  10. 

Justinian's 
code  in  the 
West. 


The  Lom- 
bards enter 
Italy,  568. 


Character  of 
the  Lombard 
conquest. 


law,  which  had  been  growing  for  so  many  centuries,  was  put 
into  systematic  and  easily  accessible  form.  The  work  com- 
prised three  parts :  the  Code  proper,  containing  the  laws 
made  by  the  emperors ;  the  Digest,  based  upon  the  writings 
of  the  great  Roman  lawyers  the  jurisconsults ;  and  the 
Institutes,  treating  of  the  fundamental  principles  of  the 
law,  as  an  introductory  text-book  for  the  law  student. 

This  system  of  law  Justinian's  conquest  introduced  into 
Italy,  where  it  remained  in  use,  and  whence  it  spread,  some 
centuries  later  in  the  Middle  Ages,  to  the  other  countries  of 
the  West,  becoming  at  length  powerfully  influential  in  the 
formation  of  the  national  law  of  all  the  continental  states, 
as  well  as  in  the  development  of  the  royal  power  at  the 
expense  of  the  feudal  system.  Probably  there  is  no  text- 
book of  law  in  such  extensive  use  to-day  as  the  Institutes  of 
Justinian. 

139.  The  Invasion  of  the  Lombards. — The  possession 
of  Italy  by  the  Eastern  Empire  was  not  of  long  duration. 
The  conquest  by  Justinian  had  merely  opened  the  way  for 
another  German  tribe.  The  Lombards  had  followed  the 
Ostrogoths  across  the  Danube,  and  now  they  followed  them 
into  Italy.  Justinian  had  been  dead  but  three  years  when 
they  descended  into  the  valley  of  the  Po  and  took  posses- 
sion of  that  part  of  Italy  almost  as  easily  as  if  it  were  a 
vacant  land,  only  a  very  few  of  the  cities  making  any  resist- 
ance. Of  the  rest  of  the  country,  however,  their  conquest 
was  very  slow  and  never  complete. 

The  Lombards  were  very  rude  and  uncivilized,  in  I 
backward  stage  of  political  development,  and  not  yrt 
thoroughly  accustomed  to  a  national  government.  For 
some  years  after  the  conquest  they  lived  without  a  king, 
ruled  in  little  states  by  dukes,  while  others  were  trying  to 
make  new  states  for  themselves  in  the  unconquered  parts 
of  the  country.  These  later  conquests  were  made  without 
much  order  or  system,  wherever  it  pleased  the  leader  of  the 
band  to  settle.  Thus  it  happened  that  the  eastern  Romans 
retained  many  fragments  of  territory  scattered  about  in  the 


mum         ./ 


148       The  Founding  of  the  German  States  [§§  M°>  Mi 


The  Eastern 
Empire  re- 
tained parts 
of  Italy. 


The  attack 
began  before 
the  Romans 
withdrew. 

Church,  The 
Count  of  the 
Saxon  Shore 
(novel). 

The  first 

settlement, 

449. 


The  develop- 
ment of 
government. 


peninsula,  and  separated  from  one  another  by  the  Lombard 
lands. 

This  fact  had  very  important  consequences  in  later  history. 
Southern  Italy  remained  a  part  of  the  Eastern  Empire  for 
almost  five  hundred  years.  Rome  and  Naples,  Genoa, 
Venice,  and  Ravenna  escaped  the  Lombard  occupation,  and 
though  the  exarch  of  Ravenna  was  in  form  the  representa- 
tive of  the  emperor,  he  could  exercise  no  very  effective 
control  over  the  cities  which  were  separated  from  his  by 
Lombard  territory.  This  meant  local  independence,  and  in 
the  case  of  Rome  it  meant  the  beginning  from  which  grew 
the  pope's  temporal  sovereignty. 

140.  The  Saxons  in  Britain.  —  One  German  settlement 
remains  to  be  described,  and  one  in  which  we  are  especially 
interested,  the  Saxon.  They  had  begun  to  make  plunder- 
ing raids  along  the  coasts  of  Britain,  exactly  after  the  fashion 
of  their  later  relatives  the  Northmen,  long  before  the  Roman 
troops  withdrew  from  the  island.  After  this  had  occurred, 
about  the  year  407,  the  abandoned  provincials  suffered 
severely  and  were  not  able  to  protect  themselves,  either  from 
the  Saxons  or  from  the  uncivilized  Celts  of  the  north  and 
west. 

By  the  middle  of  the  century  the  German  invaders  had 
begun  to  make  little  settlements  along  the  coasts.  The  first 
of  these  was  probably  made  in  the  isle  of  Thanet,  at  the 
southeastern  corner  of  England,  by  the  Jutes  —  invited  to 
assist  in  keeping  off  the  wilder  Celts.  They  did  not  long 
remain  satisfied,  however,  with  Thanet,  but  spread  over  the 
neighboring  territory  by  conquest,  and  established  the  first 
of  the  German  kingdoms,  that  of  Kent. 

141.  The  Saxon  States.  —  Other  settlements  followed 
during  the  next  hundred  years,  the  Saxons  occupying  the 
southern  coasts  and  the  Angles  the  eastern.  The  Saxons 
had  at  this  time  no  idea  of  a  national  government,  and  those 
who  remained  in  the  original  home  on  the  continent  did  not 
have  even  at  the  time  of  their  conquest  by  the  Franks  more 
than  two  centuries  later.     The  new  conditions,  however, 


§  142]    No  Roman  Elements  in  Saxon  States       149 


which  arose  from  their  making  a  conquest  and  occupying  a 
conquered  land,  led  the  Saxons  in  England  to  transform 
their  leaders  into  kings  and  to  a  steady  increase  of  the 
royal  power. 

Of  the  earliest  states  we  know  almost  nothing.  They 
seem,  however,  to  have  been  very  small,  and  to  have  tended 
early  to  coalesce,  by  conquest  or  voluntary  union,  into  larger 
states.  From  this  stage  of  their  history  there  emerge  seven 
larger  kingdoms  of  which  we  have  some  definite  knowledge. 
They  are  the  kingdom  of  the  Jutes  in  Kent ;  three  Saxon 
kingdoms,  Sussex  and  Wessex  on  the  south  coast  and  Essex 
on  the  north  side  of  the  lower  Thames ;  and  three  states  of 
the  Angles :  East  Anglia,  now  the  counties  of  Suffolk  and 
Norfolk,  Northumberland,  stretching  finally  as  far  north  as 
Edinburgh,  and  Mercia,  the  last  to  be  settled,  a  kingdom  of 
the  interior  lying  to  the  west  of  East  Anglia.  These  are  the 
kingdoms  known  sometimes  as  the  Heptarchy,  a  term  which 
must  be  understood  to  mean  merely  that  there  were  seven 
states,  not  that  they  were  united  in  any  kind  of  union 
which  could  be  called  by  this  name  as  a  government. 

142.  No  Roman  Elements  in  the  Saxon  States.  —  In  one 
very  important  respect  this  Saxon  conquest  differs  from 
those  made  by  the  other  Germans.  Whatever  may  have 
been  their  treatment  of  the  Romanized  provincials,  whether 
they  drove  them  entirely  out  of  the  land  which  they  occu- 
pied or  made  subjects  of  them,  and  we  are  not  quite  sure 
which  they  did,  they  underwent  themselves  no  Romaniza- 
tion.  Their  strictly  legal  and  political  institutions  show  no 
traces  of  Roman  influence.  No  union  of  German  and  Ro- 
man was  made  in  these  states,  but  the  development  was 
purely  Teutonic.  In  institutions  of  a  more  economic  char- 
acter, especially  in  those  relating  to  the  holding  of  estates 
of  land  and  the  management  of  their  cultivation,  there  may 
have  been  a  more  direct  Roman  influence. 

One  line  of  connection  with  ancient  civilization  was,  how- 
ever, established  not  long  after  the  conquest  in  the  conver- 
sion of  the  Saxons  to  Christianity.     The  new  faith  had  been 


The  so-called 

Heptarchy. 

Green, 

English 

People, 

I.,  Chap.  II. 


Pure  Ger- 
man govern- 
ment and 
law. 
Green, 
Making  of 
England, 
131-152 ; 
Church, 
Early 
Britain 
(Nations). 


The  conver- 
sion of  the 
Saxons. 


150         The  Founding  of  the  German  States      [§142 


Translation 
of  Bede  in 
Bohn,  34-40 ; 
Letters  of 
Pope 

Gregory  to 
Augustine; 
Gee  and 
Hardy,  2-10. 

664. 


introduced  into  the  island  under  the  Romans,  and  still 
endured  among  the  unconquered  Celts  of  the  west  and 
north,  an  earlier  and  less  developed  form  of  Christianity 
than  that  which  now  prevailed  upon  the  continent.  After 
the  introduction  of  Roman  Christianity  by  the  mission  of 
St.  Augustine  to  the  Saxons  in  597,  these  two  types  of  faith 
and  practice  became  rivals  for  the  adherence  of  the  new 
German  rulers.  In  the  Synod  of  Whitby  the  decision  was 
made  in  favor  of  the  Roman  forms,  a  decision  which  brought 
the  Saxons  into  contact  at  once  with  the  best  remaining  chan- 
nel of  influence  from  ancient  civilization,  with  the  growing 
unity  of  all  the  Christian  West  under  the  papacy,  and  with 
the  contemporary  life  of  the  continent. 


Topics 

How  did  the  Frankish  conquest  differ  from  that  of  the  other  Ger- 
mans? What  conquests  were  made  by  Clovis?  What  was  Arianism? 
What  difference  did  it  make  whether  Clovis  became  an  Arian  or  a 
Catholic?  State  all  the  changes  which  took  place  among  the  Franks 
under  Clovis.  The  character  of  Theodoric's  government  in  Italy. 
Divisions  in  the  Frankish  state.  Territories  of  the  Franks  at  their 
widest  extent.  What  is  meant  by  the  "do-nothing"  kings?  The 
duties  of  the  count.  The  conquests  of  Justinian.  The  fall  of  the 
Ostrogoths.  The  codification  of  the  Roman  law.  The  geographical 
character  of  the  Lombard  conquest.  How  did  the  Saxons  get  their 
first  footing  in  Britain?  What  effect  had  the  conquest  on  their  govern- 
ment? Was  there  anything  like  this  in  Frankish  history?  What  is 
meant  by  the  Heptarchy?  What  states  composed  it?  Roman  in- 
fluence on  the  Saxons. 


Topics  for  Assigned  Studies 

The  character  of  Theodoric's  rule.  Gibbon,  Chap.  XXXIX.  Bradley, 
Goths,  Chap.  XVII.  Hodgkin,  Theodoric  the  Goth  (Heroes), 
Oman,  Periods,  20-32.  Hodgkin,  The  Letters  of  Cassiodorus 
(Frowde),  gives  in  translation  a  large  number  of  the  letters  of 
Theodoric's  minister,  which  illustrate  the  character  of  his  govern- 
ment and  the  Roman  elements  in  his  state. 

Compare  or  contrast  Theodoric  and  Clovis. 


Topics  for  Assigned  Studies  1 5 1 

The  codification  of  the  Roman  law.  Bury,  Empire,  Book  IV.,  Chap. 
III.  Gibbon,  Chap.  XLIV.  Haclley,  Introduction  to  Roman 
Law  (Appleton),  Lectures  I.  and  II.  Sheldon  Amos,  Roman 
Civil  Law  (London,  Kegan  Paul),  Part  I.,  Chap.  IV.;  Part 
III.,  Chaps.  I.  and  II. 

The  first  Saxon  settlement.  Green,  Making  of  England  (Harper), 
13-54.  Green,  History  of  the  English  People  (Macmillan),  I. 
22-27.  Social  England  (Putnam),  I.  116-121.  Church,  Early 
Britain  (Nations).  Translation  of  Bede  in  Bohn's  Library, 
23-26.  There  is  also  a  translation  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  Chronicle 
in  Bohn. 


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Fragment  from  the  Digest  of  Justinian 


CHAPTER   V 


THE   FRANKS,  THE  ARABS,   AND  THE  PAPACY 


The  Caro- 
lingian 
family. 
Sergeant, 
The  Franks 
(Nations), 
Chap.  XIV.; 
Hodgkin, 
Charles  the 
Great 

(Macmillan), 
Chap.  II.; 
Zeller,  II. 

Sources  of 
their  power. 


The  mayor 
of  the  palace. 
Sergeant, 
The  Franks, 
194-200. 


Pippin, 
Grimoald, 
and  Arnulf. 


143.  The  Second  Frankish  Dynasty.  —  The  conditions 
which  have  been  described  as  existing  in  the  Frankish  state 
under  the  later  successors  of  Clovis — turbulence,  civil  war, 
and  weak  kings  —  were  very  favorable  to  the  rise  of  some 
strong  man  into  power  alongside  the  king  to  exercise  the 
authority  which  the  kings  failed  to  exercise.  This  is  the 
way  in  which  the  second  dynasty  of  Frankish  history, 
the  great  family  of  the  Carolingians,  obtained  its  power. 

Aside  from  the  opportunity  which  the  general  condition 
of  things  gave  them,  the  new  family  was  assisted  in  its  rise 
by  two  important  facts.  One  was  their  own  great  wealth 
and  resources,  especially  when  in  the  third  generation  the 
possessions  of  two  of  the  richest  families  of  the  Rhine  valley 
were  united  in  their  hands.  The  second  was  that  they  early 
obtained  a  practically  hereditary  hold  upon  the  office  of  mayor 
of  the  palace  in  Austrasia,  the  eastern  kingdom.  This  office 
seems  to  have  been  that  of  a  kind  of  steward  of  the  royal 
estates,  from  which  the  Frankish  king's  revenue  was  chiefly 
derived.  It  therefore  gave  its  holder  some  control  over 
the  disposition  to  be  made  of  the  lands  and  of  the  revenues, 
and  so  put  into  his  hands  a  means  of  influence,  of  favoring 
his  friends,  and  of  punishing  his  enemies,  of  great  value  to  a 
growing  power. 

144.  The  First  Carolingians.  —  The  first  of  this  line  was 
Pippin  of  Land  en,  who  was  mayor  of  the  palace  under 
Dagobert  I.  His  son  Grimoald,  under  weaker  kings,  exer- 
cised almost  royal  authority  for  nearly  twenty  years.  At 
last  he  made  a  premature  attempt  to  transfer  the  crown  to 

152 


§§  i45>  J46]    The  Government  Strengthened 


153 


his  son,  and  was  killed  by  the  other  nobles,  who  were  not 
willing  to  allow  a  strong  king  to  take  the  place  of  a  weak 
one,  and  who  were  not  yet  used  to  seeing  the  royal  author- 
ity in  the  hands  of  any  family  but  the  Merovingian.  Grimo- 
ald's  sister  carried  on  the  line  through  her  marriage  with 
the  son  of  Arnulf  of  Metz,  who  had  been  a  most  influential 
man  in  the  days  of  the  first  Pippin.  Their  son  was  the  sec- 
ond Pippin,  of  Heristal,  and  he  recovered  the  power  of  his 
grandfather  and  uncle. 

145.  Their  Power  established.  —  In  the  meantime,  in  the 
west  Frankish  kingdom,  Neustria,  a  similar  course  had  been 
run,  except  that  no  really  hereditary  power  had  been  created 
by  the  mayors  of  the  palace  who  ruled  for  the  kings.  The 
difference  between  the  Romanized  Frank  of  the  West  and 
the  pure  German  of  Austrasia  had,  however,  been  increasing, 
and  many  wars  had  been  fought  between  the  two  states. 
Perhaps  one  result  of  the  difference  was  that  Neustria,  after 
the  Roman  model,  was  a  more  centralized  state  than  Aus- 
trasia, and  the  nobles  were  less  independent  there.  In  687 
the  two  states  and  the  two  differing  systems  came  to  a  deci- 
sive conflict  in  the  battle  of  Testry.  Here  Pippin  and  the 
east  P>anks  gained  a  complete  victory.  This  battle  gave  to 
Pippin  the  control  of  both  kingdoms  and  of  all  the  Franks, 
which  he  retained  to  the  end  of  his  life  and  passed  on  to 
his  descendants.  But  its  results  were  more  than  this.  It 
gave  ascendency  again  to  the  German  element  in  the  nation, 
and  it  checked  for  a  time  the  development  of  an  absolute 
monarchy. 

146.  The  Government  strengthened.  —  Pippin  had  won 
his  victory  as  the  representative  of  a  loose  organization  and 
of  an  independent  aristocracy.  But  when  he  was  once  in 
possession  of  the  supreme  power  he  naturally  strove  to  make 
it  as  great  as  possible.  The  next  stage  of  Frankish  history 
then  is  filled  with  a  new  conflict  between  the  central  power 
in  the  hands  of  Pippin,  and  after  him  of  his  son  Charles 
Martel,  and  the  aristocracy.  It  is  a  conflict  in  which  the 
central  authority  was  finally  successful,  and  Charles  Martel 


Hodgkin, 
Charles  the 
Great, 
PP-  33-39- 


Centraliza- 
tion of  the 
state. 


154      The  Franks,  the  Arabs,  and  the  Papacy    [§  146 

passed  on  to  his  son,  the  third  Pippin,  a  strong  government 
in  which,  however,  he  still  ruled  in  the  name  of  the  king,  not 
having  ventured  to  try  again  the  experiment  of  transferring 
to  himself  the  crown  in  which  the  line  had  once  so  disas- 
trously failed. 


The  Kaaba  at  Mecca 


Under  Charles  Martel  a  new  line  of  influence  of  the  great- 
est importance  enters  the  history  of  Europe,  having  had  its 
rise  in  the  Orient  some  time  before.  This  was  Mohamme- 
danism. 


[47?  I4$]        Mohammed  and  his  Religion 


155 


147.  Arabia  before  Mohammed. — Up  to  the  time  of 
Mohammed  Arabia  had  had  no  part  in  the  history  of  the 
world.  The  most  of  its  territory  was  occupied  by  wandering 
tribes,  and  only  along  the  shores  of  the  Red  Sea  was  there  a 
commercial  and  agricultural  population  with  some  develop- 
ment of  city  life.  The  Arabs  had  no  national  government, 
nor  anything  which  could  be  called  a  national  culture  or 
religion.  Mecca  was  the  centre  of  what  national  feeling 
existed,  and  there  was  the  Kaaba,  a  temple  full  of  idols 
from  many  sources,  under  the  charge  of  the  priestly  family 
of  the  Koreishites.  Idolatry  prevailed  in  general  through- 
out the  country,  and  in  some  parts  the  worship  of  the  stars. 

148.  Mohammed  and  his  Religion.  —  Mohammed  was 
born  in  571.  Left  an  orphan  while  a  mere  child,  he  spent 
a  youth  of  poverty,  and  finally  obtained  employment  as 
a  driver  in  a  caravan.  His  employer,  a  widow  named 
Khadijah,  was  attracted  by  his  high  character,  fidelity,  and 
gentle  disposition,  and  married  him.  This  was  the  turning- 
point  in  his  career,  for  her  wealth  gave  him  the  influence  in 
the  community  which  he  had  lacked  before,  and  the  leisure 
necessary  for  his  work.  He  could  now  give  play  to  the 
strongly  religious  and  mystical  tendency  of  his  nature.  He 
began  to  have  visions  and  to  receive  revelations.  His  wife 
encouraged  him  to  believe  in  them,  and  to  obey  the  injunc- 
tions which  he  received  to  teach  to  Arabia  the  true  character 
of  God  and  a  new  religion. 

So  far  as  the  religion  itself  is  concerned,  which  Mohammed 
taught,  it  was  a  distinct  advance  upon  anything  in  Arabia 
before  his  time.  In  its  conception  of  God  and  of  responsi- 
bility in  the  future  life  for  conduct  in  this  life,  in  its  influence 
upon  the  position  of  woman,  and  upon  many  lines  of  con- 
duct, it  reveals  the  fact  that  Mohammed  had  studied  some 
at  least  of  the  results  of  the  best  religious  and  ethical  think- 
ing of  mankind  up  to  his  times.  His  religion  reveals  also 
its  human  origin  in  the  appeals  which  it  allows  to  the  lower 
side  of  human  nature,  and  in  the  fact  that  progress  under 
its  influence  seems  possible  only  up  to  a  certain  point  •  but 


The 

character  of 
Moham- 
med's 
religion. 
Muir,  The 
Corau,  its 
Composition 
and  Teaching 
(S.P.C.K.); 
all  important 
passages 
translated. 
See  also  the 
common 
translation 
by  Sale ;  and 
Fling, 
Studies, 
II.,  No.  3. 


156      The  Franks ',  the  Arabs,  and  the  Papacy    [§  149 


certainly  to  more  than  one  race  in  the  lower  stages  of 
advancement  conversion  to  Mohammedanism  has  been  fol- 
lowed by  rapid  progress  in  civilization.  This  was  its  origi- 
nal effect  upon  the  Arabians. 

At  first  his  converts  were  confined  to  his  own  relatives. 
Mecca,  and  especially  the  priestly  family  of  the  Koreishites, 
who  feared  the  loss  of  their  influence,  could  not  be  per- 
suaded. In  622  Mohammed  fled  from  persecution  in 
Mecca  and  found  refuge  in  the  rival  city  of  Medina.  This 
event  in  Mohammedan  history  is  called  the  Hegira,  and  is 
the  date  from  which  the  Mohammedan  chronology  begins 
to  reckon.  It  seems  to  have  produced  a  change  also  in  the 
character  of  Mohammed,  and  in  that  of  the  revelations 
which  he  received.  The  idea  began  now  to  be  cherished 
that  men  may,  for  their  own  good,  be  forced  to  accept  the 
truth  even  against  their  will,  and  this  idea  was  carried  out 
in  Mohammed's  lifetime  in  the  conquest  of  Arabia.  After 
the  death  of  Mohammed  the  central  and  eastern  portions  of 
Arabia  revolted  and  the  unity  of  the  nation  was  reestab- 
lished only  after  a  violent  civil  war. 

149.  A  Religion  of  Conquest.  —  In  the  meantime  con- 
quest outside  Arabia,  which  Mohammed  had  foreshadowed, 
had  already  begun.  In  an  incredibly  short  time  the  Ara- 
bians created  the  largest  empire  of  civilized  history,  the 
largest  at  least  before  the  nineteenth  century.  Provinces 
indifferent  to  a  change  of  masters  or  states  weak  and  de- 
cayed offered  no  adequate  resistance  to  the  tremendous 
enthusiasm  of  the  new  nation.  The  religion  also  was  dis- 
tinctly that  of  a  conquering  race.  With  its  doctrine  of  fate 
—  that  the  moment  of  every  man's  death  is  absolutely  fixed  — 
and  with  its  promise  that  the  soul  of  the  martyr  dying  in  battle 
should  be  admitted  at  once  into  the  joys  of  paradise,  it  tore 
down  the  ordinary  barriers  of  prudence  and  gave  enthusiasm 
unchecked  sway.  From  the  heretical  Christian  sects  along 
the  borders  of  Arabia,  who  had  descended  from  Arianism, 
Mohammed  had  learned  also  to  put  the  enormous  emphasis 
which  he  did  upon  the  doctrine  that  "  God  is  one  God." 


§  IS°]         The  Conquests  of  the  First  Century         157 


This  teaching,  together  with  the  tolerant  character  of  the 
early  Mohammedanism,  made  its  victory  not  unwelcome  to 
the  oppressed  sectaries  of  the  Eastern  Empire. 

150.  The  Conquests  of  the  First  Century.  —  Syria  and 
Persia  were  conquered  within  ten  years  of  the  death  of 
Mohammed,  Egypt  in  about  five  more.  By  the  close  of 
the  century  their  empire  had  practically  reached  the  Atlan- 
tic, the  limits  of  the  Roman  Empire,  on  the  west,  and  on 
the  east  and  northeast  in  Asia  those  of  Alexander  the  Great. 
Ten  years  later  the  turn  of  Europe  came.  The  Arabs 
crossed  the  straits  of  Gibraltar  and  easily  overthrew  the 
great  Visigothic  kingdom  of  Spain,  which  was  now  weak 
and  full  of  civil  strife.  Only  a  little  land  remained  Christian 
behind  the  mountains  in  the  northwestern  corner. 

During  this  time  repeated  and  fierce  attempts  were  made 
to  get  possession  of  Constantinople,  which  the  Saracens 
seem  to  have  thought  indispensable  to  their  empire,  like 
the  Russians  of  modern  history.  We  are  told  that  the  city 
was  saved  by  the  mysterious  Greek  fire,  but  the  Empire 
evidently  had  some  reserve  of  strength  and  was  able  even  to 
dispute  the  possession  of  Asia  Minor  with  the  Arabs. 

With  Spain  in  their  hands,  it  was  natural  that  the  Saracens 
should  try  to  make  further  conquests  in  Europe.  But  north 
of  the  Pyrenees  they  came  in  conflict  with  a  new  kind  of 
enemy,  a  race  as  young  and  powerful  as  themselves,  the 
Franks.  The  struggle  between  them  for  the  rule  of  southern 
Gaul  lasted  for  twenty  years,  and  for  twenty  years  longer  the 
Saracens  held  a  little  portion  of  the  southeastern  corner.  The 
great  battle  of  the  time,  sometimes  called  one  of  the  greatest 
battles  of  history,  is  that  which  we  name  the  battle  of  Tours, 
though  it  was  fought  nearer  the  city  of  Poictiers,  not  far 
south  of  the  Loire.  Here  Charles  Martel,  the  son  and  suc- 
cessor of  Pippin  of  Heristal  as  mayor  of  the  palace  and  ruler 
of  the  Franks,  totally  defeated  and  drove  back  the  greatest 
invasion  of  the  period.  He  had  much  fighting  afterward  to 
recover  the  lands  along  the  Rhone  which  the  Mohammedans 
had  occupied,  as  did  his  son  the  third  Pippin,  but  this  great 


In  Asia, 
Africa,  and 
Europe. 
Bury's  Gib- 
bon, V. 
397-486. 


Spain, 

Bradley, 

Goths 

(Nations)  ; 

Chap. 

XXXV. 

Attacks  on 
Constantino 
pie.   Oman, 
Byzantine 
Empire 
(Nations), 
Chaps.  XII. 
and  XIV. ; 
Oman,  Art 
of  War, 
545-548. 
Greek  fire, 
Bury,  Em- 
pire, II.  319 

Moham- 
medan ex- 
pansion 
checked  by 
the  Franks. 

The  battle  c 
Tours,  732. 
Zeller,  II. 


158      The  Franks,  the  Arabs,  and  the  Papacy  [§  15 ] 


End  of  the 
age  of  con- 
quest. 


The  Caliphs. 
Muir,  The 
Caliphate 
(Lond.  Rel. 
Tract  Soc). 


The  rise  of 
the  Abbas- 
sides.     Muir, 
Caliphate, 
422-429. 


The  empire 
divided. 
Lane,  Ara- 
bian Society 
in  the  Middle 
Ages. 


The  most 
important 
service  of 
Mohamme- 
danism to 
civilization. 


victory  and  his  vigorous  defence  of  Gaul  strengthened  the 
hold  of  his  house  on  the  government  of  the  Frankish  nation. 

151.  The  Revolution  of  750. — The  age  of  conquest  in 
Mohammedan  history  goes  to  about  the  year  750.  Then 
occurs  a  dynastic  revolution  which  is  followed  by  a  division 
in  the  empire,  and  a  change  in  the  character  of  the  Saracen 
civilization. 

Mohammed  made  no  arrangement  for  the  government 
after  his  death.  The  first  caliphs,  or  "  successors,"  whose 
reigns  were  mostly  short,  were  chosen  from  the  companions 
of  Mohammed.  During  this  period  the  constitution  of  the 
empire  was  gradually  taking  shape.  In  661  the  caliph  Ali, 
the  nephew  of  Mohammed,  was  murdered  and  the  heredi- 
tary dynasty  of  the  Ommiads  seized  the  throne  and  made 
Damascus  the  capital  of  the  empire.  They  ruled  the 
united  empire  during  the  whole  age  of  conquest. 

A  little  before  750  leaders  who  claimed  a  descent  from 
Abbas,  another  uncle  of  Mohammed's,  raised  an  insurrec- 
tion to  avenge  the  wrongs  of  Ali.  Their  insurrection  was 
successful.  The  Ommiads  were  overthrown  and  cruelly 
punished,  and  the  dynasty  of  the  Abbassides  took  their 
place.  One  prince  of  the  Ommiads  escaped  and  later 
appeared  in  Spain,  which  recognized  him  as  caliph  and  made 
itself  independent.  From  this  time  on  the  Saracen  empire 
was  divided  into  two,  an  eastern  and  a  western,  as  the 
Roman  had  been.  Not  long  afterwards  another  dynasty, 
claiming  descent  from  Ali  himself  and  Fatima  the  daughter 
of  Mohammed,  established  the  independence  of  Egypt. 
The  Abbassides  changed  the  capital  from  Damascus  to 
Bagdad  on  the  Tigris,  and  this  city  became  speedily  the 
centre  of  a  rich  and  brilliant  civilization  which  has  left  us 
an  extremely  interesting  picture  of  itself  in  the  Arabian 
Nights. 

152.  Arabian  Science. — In  its  influence  upon  the  larger 
history  of  the  world,  the  most  important  feature  of  this 
civilization  was  its  scientific  character.  For  work  of  this 
kind  the  early  Mohammedan  people  seem  to  have  had  as 


§152] 


Arabian  Science 


159 


great  a  liking  as  the  Greeks.  From  every  ancient  civiliza- 
tion with  which  they  came  in  contact,  they  absorbed  what 
could  be  learned,  —  Greek  science,  Persian  philosophy,  Hin- 
doo mathematics, —  and  these  they  wrought  into  a  single  body 
of  scientific  teaching.  To  what  they  had  borrowed  they  made 
some  additions  of  their  own,  especially  in  astronomy,  chem- 


TOMB  OF  THE  CALIPHS  AT  CAIRO 


istry,  and  mathematics,  though   their   work  in   advancing  Thefounda- 
science  was  less  important  than  in  transmitting  it.     For  this   tlon  of 
the  world  owes  them  a  great  debt  of  gratitude.     The  service   science> 
which  the  church  and  the  Franks  performed  in  handing  on 
Roman  institutions  and  law,  the  Mohammedans  rendered  to 


[6o      The  Franks,  the  Arabs,  and  the  Papacy   [§  *54 


Decay  of  the 
Abbassides. 


The  Seljuk 
Turks. 


The  early 
Merovingian 
conquests 
recovered. 


Greek  and  Oriental  science,  preserving  it  through  the  dark 
ages  as  the  foundation  of  modern  science  when  the  revival 
of  learning  finally  came. 

153.  The  Coming  in  of  the  Turks. — The  decline  of  this 
brilliant  Mohammedan  civilization  was  as  rapid  as  its  rise. 
In  the  East  the  Abbassid  family  fell  into  speedy  decay  like 
the  Frankish  Merovingians,  whom  they  rivalled  in  cruelty 
and  corruption.  In  the  days  of  their  greatness  they  had 
begun  the  introduction  of  Turkish  slaves  to  form  a  royal 
bodyguard,  and  when  the  age  of  decline  came  on  these  sol- 
diers and  their  officers  were  able  to  usurp  the  real  rule  as 
the  Carolingians  did  among  the  Franks,  restricting  the 
caliphs  to  a  religious  headship.  In  the  eleventh  century  the 
Seljuk  Turkish  dynasty  established  itself  in  the  political 
power,  and  it  was  with  them  that  the  first  crusaders  fought 
for  the  possession  of  the  Holy  Land.  When  the  Turks 
came  into  power  civilization  speedily  died  in  the  eastern 
caliphate,  as  it  has  everywhere  under  the  Turk.  In  the 
West  the  Spanish  caliphate  had  a  long  and  varying  history, 
at  times  weak  through  dissension  and  civil  war,  at  other 
times  reinforced  by  a  revival  of  enthusiasm  in  the  Moham- 
medan world  of  Spain  or  Africa.  Its  history  is  closely  con- 
nected with  the  growth  of  the  Christian  states  of  Spain, 
which  will  be  followed  later. 

154.  The  Frankish  Empire  restored. — In  the  Christian 
world  of  the  West,  the  eighth  century  is  one  of  steady 
recovery  in  the  Frankish  state  under  the  princes  of  the 
Carolingian  house.  The  reconstruction  of  the  authority  of 
the  central  government  has  been  already  noticed.  At  the 
same  time  is  carried  on  the  reestablishment  of  the  rule  of 
the  Franks  over  the  early  Merovingian  conquests,  which  as 
in  the  case  of  the  Bavarians,  for  example,  had  tended  to 
become  independent  during  the  age  of  weakness  in  the 
state.  The  work  of  recovery  in  this  direction  was  not  com- 
pleted by  the  first  two  Carolingian  princes,  but  goes  on 
through  the  time  of  the  third,  Pippin  the  Short.  Charle- 
magne, the  son  of  Pippin,  began  his  reign  over  no  more 


55]       The  Pope's  Independence   Threatened        161 


territory  than  the  Franks  had  ruled  in  the  days  of  Dago- 
bert  I. 

But  some  new  things  had  been  done  by  Pippin  the 
Short.  About  the  middle  of  the  century  he  came  to  believe 
that  the  experiment  of  Grimoald  could  be  safely  tried  again, 
and  that  he  might  be  king  in  name  as  well  as  in  fact.  But 
he  felt  obliged  to  proceed  with  great  caution.  Something 
of  divinity  might  still  attach  in  the  popular  feeling  to  the  old 
house.  The  change  must  carry  with  it  a  religious  sanction 
which  all  would  recognize.  So  application  was  made  to  the 
pope  to  lend  the  weight  of  his  approval  to  the  assumption 
of  the  crown.  This  was  quickly  granted,  and  in  addition 
the  new  king  was  consecrated  with  holy  oil  by  a  religious 
ceremony  which  was  an  imitation  of  that  by  which  in  Old 
Testament  times  David  had  been  anointed  king  in  the  place 
of  Saul. 

This  reference  of  the  question  to  the  pope  shows  us 
clearly  the  position  which  the  pope  had  come  to  hold  in  the 
West  at  this  time.  Pippin  could  as  easily  have  obtained 
the  sanction  he  desired  from  the  assembled  bishops  of  his 
own  realm.  It  is  manifestly  Pippin's  judgment,  however, 
that  the  opinion  of  the  pope  will  have  more  authority  and 
carry  more  weight  than  that  of  the  church  of  Gaul. 

155.  The  Lombards  threaten  the  Pope's  Independence.  — 
But  the  pope  at  this  time  had  as  great  need  of  Pippin  as 
Pippin  had  of  him.  We  have  seen  how  at  first  the  Lombard 
conquest  of  Italy  had  not  been  complete.  Rome  and  some 
little  territory  about  it  had  remained  as  before.  Nominally 
it  was  under  the  rule  of  the  exarch  of  Ravenna  as  the  rep- 
resentative of  the  emperor  at  Constantinople.  But  he 
could  not  easily  exercise  any  practical  control  in  Rome,  cut 
off  as  he  was  from  any  quick  or  safe  communication  with  it. 
As  a  result  the  conduct  of  political  affairs  drifted  steadily 
into  the  hands  of  the  pope,  as  the  only  one  to  whom  it 
seemed  naturally  to  belong.  Gregory  I.,  the  great  pope  of 
the  end  of  the  sixth  century,  assumed  the  direction  of  politi- 
cal affairs,  and  exercised  almost  all  the  functions  of  a  tem- 

M 


Pippin  made 
king  of  the 
Franks,  751. 
Hodgkin, 
Charles  the 
Great, 
Chap.  IV. 


The  influ- 
ence of  the 
papacy. 
Carr,  Church 
and  the 
Roman  E?n- 
pire,  Chap. 
XXIV. 


The  origin  of 

the  papal 

states. 

Oman, 

Periods, 

198-203. 


Gregory  the 

Great, 

590-604. 

Barnaby, 

Gregory  the 

Great 

(S.  P.  C.  K.). 


1 62       The  Franks,  the  Arabs,  and  the  Papacy   [§  156 


The  Lom- 
bard ad- 
vance. 
Oman, 
Periods, 
Chap.  XVI. 


The  appeal 
to  the 
Franks. 


The  donation 
of  Pippin. 


poral  sovereign  in  his  little  state.  This  sovereignty,  assumed 
by  the  popes  because  it  was  necessary  for  them  to  do  so 
without  any  thought  of  what  it  might  grow  into,  became  in 
the  course  of  time  the  sovereignty  of  a  little  state  in  central 
Italy,  of  which  they  were  the  kings,  though  they  did  not 
bear  the  title,  a  position  which  lasted  until  the  Franco- 
Prussian  War  in  1870,  and  which  is  known  in  history  as  the 
"temporal  power"  of  the  pope. 

After  almost  a  century  of  this  partial  occupation  of  Italy, 
the  Lombards  now  began  to  press  forward  to  obtain  the 
rest.  Dissensions  which  had  sprung  up  between  the  popes 
and  the  emperors  over  the  use  of  images  in  the  churches, 
which  the  emperors  called  idolatry  and  wished  to  prohibit, 
had  also  divided  Roman  Italy  into  parties,  and  gave  some 
prospect  of  success  to  the  Lombard  attempt.  For  the  pope, 
to  be  brought  under  the  rule  of  a  king  of  Italy,  near  at  hand 
and  constantly  under  temptation  to  interfere,  would  threaten 
very  seriously  the  position  which  he  had  now  come  to  oc- 
cupy in  the  West.  The  danger  must  be  avoided  if  it  could 
be  in  any  possible  way. 

156.  The  Franks  protect  the  Pope. — The  emperor  would 
not  or  could  not  protect  the  pope.  The  Franks  were  the 
only  other  power  capable  of  checking  the  Lombard  advance. 
The  first  invitation  to  interfere  in  Italy  was  sent  to  Charles 
Martel,  but  he  was  still  too  busily  occupied  in  the  work  of 
reconstruction  at  home  to  suspend  it  in  any  foreign  interest. 
1°  753,  Pope  Stephen  II.  went  in  person  to  Gaul  to  induce 
Pippin  to  come  to  his  aid.  His  mission  was  successful. 
Pippin  returned  with  him  at  the  head  of  his  army,  and 
forced  the  king  of  the  Lombards  to  restore  all  that  he  had 
taken  of  the  lands  which  the  pope  claimed.  After  the  re- 
turn of  the  Franks,  however,  the  Lombard  king  forgot  his 
promises  and  even  laid  siege  to  Rome.  Pippin  at  once 
came  to  the  rescue  of  the  pope,  and  with  complete  success. 
This  time  he  made  sure  of  the  surrender  of  his  conquests  by 
the  Lombard  king.  These  included  the  exarchate  of  Ra- 
venna on  the  eastern  side  of  Italy,  in  which  the  pope  had 


§  156]  The  Franks  protect  the  Pope  163 

never  exercised  any  authority,  but  instead  of  restoring  these 
lands  to  the  emperor,  Pippin  made  a  formal  gift  of  them 
to  the  pope.  By  this  gift  the  state  over  which  the  pope 
exercised  temporal  sovereignty  was  carried  over  to  the  Adri- 
atic and  assumed  the  geographical  outlines  which  it  retained 
through  almost  the  whole  of  history. 

So  far  as  concerned  the  Franks  this  was  no  immediate 
extension  of  their  empire,  but  it  prepared  the  way  for  Char- 
lemagne's invasion  of  Italy  and  annexation  of  the  Lombard 
kingdom  to  his  own. 


Topics 

What  things  aided  the  rise  of  the  second  Frankish  dynasty?  The 
office  of  mayor  of  the  palace.  What  mistake  was  made  in  the  second 
generation  of  the  new  family?  Why  was  it  a  mistake?  Points  of 
difference  between  Neustria  and  Austrasia.  Results  of  the  battle  of 
Testry.  The  events  of  Mohammed's  life.  What  changes  did  he  make 
in  Arabia?  Mohammedanism  as  a  religion.  The  Hegira.  The  ex- 
tent of  the  Mohammedan  conquests  at  the  year  750.  What  changes 
occurred  with  the  accession  of  the  Abbassides?  The  services  of  the 
Arabs  to  science.  The  beginning  of  Turkish  rule.  How  was  the 
crown  changed  from  the  Merovingians  to  the  Carolingians?  What 
does  this  show  of  the  position  of  the  pope?  How  had  the  popes 
obtained  a  political  authority  in  Italy?  In  what  way  was  this 
threatened  by  the  Lombards?  What  bearing  had  these  facts  on 
Frankish  history? 

Topics  for  Assigned  Studies 

Study  carefully  the  opening  paragraph  of  the  story  of  the  Forty  Thieves 
in  the  Arabian  Nights,  and  notice  what  it  implies  as  to  facts  re- 
garding Arabian  life,  the  position  of  woman,  and  certain  points  of 
law. 

Mohammed.  Muir,  Mahomet.  (London,  Rel.  Tract  Soc.)  Gibbon, 
Chap.  L.     Bury,  Empire,  Book  V.,  Chap.  VI. 

The  appeal  of  the  Popes  to  the  Franks.  Bryce,  Holy  Roman  Empire, 
34-41.  Sergeant,  Franks,  207-212.  Bury,  Empire,  II.  499. 
Oman,  Periods,  286,  327-332. 


CHAPTER   VI 


The  begin- 
ning of  Char- 
lemagne's 
reign,  768. 
Zeller,  III. 


Bavaria  in- 
corporated 
in  the  Prank- 
ish state. 


THE  EMPIRE   REVIVED.     CHARLEMAGNE 

Books  for  Reference  and  Further  Reading 

Einhard,  Life  of  Charlemagne.  Contemporary.  Translation  by  Turner 
in  Harper's  Half  Hour  Series  (15  cents),  and  by  Glaister  (Bell). 

Hodgkin,  Charles  the  Great.     (Macmillan;   75  cents.) 

Mombert,  Charles  the  Great.     (Appleton;  $5.00.) 

Cutts,  Charlemagne.     (S.  P.  C.  K.;  E.  &  J.  B.  Young;  $1.25.) 

Mullinger,  Schools  of  Charles  the  Great.     (Longmans.) 

West,  Alcuin.     (Scribner;  $1.00.) 

Abel  and  Simson,  Jahrbiicher  des  frankischen  Reichs  unter  Karl  des 
Grossen.     2  Bde.     (Leipzig.) 

157.  The  Way  prepared  for  a  Great  Empire. — Charle- 
magne succeeded  his  father  as  king  of  the  Franks  at  the  age 
of  twenty-five.  The  last  two  generations  of  his  house  had 
prepared  the  way  for  a  great  reign.  The  government  of  the 
king  was  once  more  strong  and  well  obeyed,  though  con- 
stant watchfulness  was  necessary  against  the  perpetual  tend- 
ency to  independence  on  the  part  of  the  local  aristocracy 
and  of  the  counts  who  acted  for  the  government.  The  old 
conquests,  also,  of  the  early  Merovingians  had  been  practi- 
cally recovered,  so  that  the  kingdom  existed  once  more  as 
in  the  days  of  its  greatest  extent  under  Dagobert  I.  Every- 
thing was  ready  for  a  new  age  in  the  history  of  the  Franks, 
an  age  of  expansion,  and  this  is  the  character  of  the  reign  of 
Charlemagne. 

One  bit  of  work  in  the  way  of  reconstruction  remained  to 
be  done,  the  complete  incorporation  of  the  Bavarians  of 
southeastern  Germany  in  the  Frankish  kingdom.  This 
Charlemagne  accomplished  without  much  effort,  and  more 

164 


§§  158,  159]      The  Conquest  of  the  Saxons  165 

thoroughly  than  it  had  ever  been  done  before.  Their  native 
dynasty  was  deposed,  and  disappeared  from  history,  and 
they  submitted  entirely  to  the  rule  of  the  Franks,  though 
they  retained  their  identity  of  race. 

158.  The  Conquest  of  Italy.  —  In  four  directions  Charle-   The  Lom- 
magne  added  to  the  territory  of  the  Franks.     In  Italy  his  j^YttacT 
father  had   prepared   the   way.     The   Lombards   were   no  on  Rome, 
match  for  the  Franks,  but  they  had  not  yet  learned  how 
thoroughly  in  earnest  their  new  enemies  were  in  protecting 

the  pope,  or  perhaps  in  controlling  Italy.  Soon  after  the 
accessions  of  Charlemagne,  the  Lombard  King  Desiderius 
marched  against  Rome.  The  pope  was  probably  not  sorry 
to  have  an  opportunity  to  call  upon  the  Franks  once  more, 
so  much  was  to  be  gained  from  them,  and  he  sent  at  once 
to  Charlemagne  to  ask  his  aid. 

As  soon  as  other  interests  would  permit,  the  king  came   Charlemagne 
down  into  Italy  with  a  great  army,  and  though  Desiderius  invades  Italy- 
made  a  brave  resistance  he  was  forced  to  yield.     Charle-   chap.  v. ; 
magne  sent  him  into  a  cloister,  and  had  himself  crowned   Mombert, 
king  of  the  Lombards.     He  made  but  few  changes  in  gov-  86_IO°- 
ernment  or  in  the  Lombard  laws,  and  the  people  were  so  774- 
well  satisfied  with  his  rule  that  they  made  no  effort  to  re- 
cover their  independence.     To  the  pope  Charlemagne  con- 
firmed the  donation  of  his  father. 

The  papacy  was  now  relieved  from  this  danger.  It  was  Results  of 
some  centuries  before  another  power  arose  in  Italy  strong  tms conquest- 
enough  to  threaten  the  independence  of  the  little  state 
which  the  pope  ruled  as  a  temporal  sovereign.  For  Charle- 
magne the  greatest  gain  from  this  conquest  was  in  the  fact 
that  it  brought  into  his  kingdom  the  city  of  Rome  with  all 
that  Rome  still  stood  for  in  the  minds  of  men. 

159.  The  Conquest  of  the  Saxons.  —  Before  his  expedi-  Along 
tion  into  Italy,  Charlemagne  had  begun  another  conquest  strugg,e> 
which  was  to  occupy  three-quarters  of  his  reign,  that  of  the   772 
Saxons  of  North  Germany.     This  proved  about  as  difficult 

a  conquest  as  ever  was  made.  The  obstinacy  of  the  Saxons 
in  refusing  to  see  that  they  were  conquered,  apparently  a 


1 66  The  Empire  Revived.     Charlemagne      [§  160 


The  charac- 
ter of  the 
war. 


The  Saxons 
at  last  sub- 
mit. 


In  Spain. 
Hodgkin, 
Chap.  VIII. 


In  the  East. 
Avars. 
Zeller,  III. 


hereditary  trait  of  the  race,  was  only  equalled  by  Charle- 
magne's patience  in  doing  the  work  over  again  year  after 
year  until  it  was  finally  completed. 

Charlemagne  would  enter  the  country  early  in  the  sum- 
mer with  a  great  army,  easily  overcome  the  resistance  of 
the  Saxons  in  the  field,  establish  Frankish  garrisons  and 
colonies  of  monks  and  priests,  force  the  people,  in  so  far 
as  he  could  get  hold  of  them,  to  accept  Christianity  in 
form,  and  return  home  at  the  end  of  the  summer,  leaving 
the  land  apparently  subdued.  But  after  he  was  gone,  the 
Saxons  rose,  massacred  his  priests  and  garrisons,  and  threw 
off  every  mark  of  subjection,  including  Christianity,  and  all 
the  work  had  to  be  repeated. 

Gradually  the  intervals  between  the  insurrections  became 
longer,  and  at  last  the  Saxons  submitted,  overcome,  it 
would  seem,  not  so  much  by  the  military  force  of  the 
Franks  as  by  conviction,  by  the  influence  which  the  real 
teachings  of  the  Christian  religion  were  beginning  to  have 
over  them,  and  by  the  realization  of  the  fact  that  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  Franks  was  in  every  way  better  for  them 
than  their  own.  The  Saxons  of  a  later  time  looked  upon 
Charlemagne  with  gratitude,  as  the  great  apostle  to  their 
race  and  the  founder  of  its  civilization. 

160.  Charlemagne's  other  Conquests. — The  other  con- 
quests of  Charlemagne  were  less  important  and  occupied 
but  little  of  his  own  attention.  By  invitation  of  one  of  the 
factions  of  Mohammedan  Spain,  he  crossed  the  Pyrenees 
and  marched  through  the  northern  part  of  the  country. 
Little  was  gained  in  this  expedition,  but  afterwards  the 
Frankish  dominion  was  slowly  pushed  over  a  small  triangle 
of  territory  in  northeastern  Spain,  including  the  city  of 
Barcelona. 

Against  the  Tartar  Avars  in  the  Danube  valley,  who  could 
not  abandon  their  old  habit  of  making  plundering  inroads 
on  German  territory,  Charlemagne  conducted  one  great  and 
successful  campaign  and  then  left  the  conquest  to  be  com- 
pleted by  others.     In  wars  with  the  emperor  at  Constanti- 


Charlemagne 


1 68  The  Empire  Revived.      Charlemagne      [§  161 

nople  he  also  gained  lands  east  of  the  Adriatic,  and  thus 
joined  his  territories  in  Italy  with  those  of  Germany,  and 
carried  his  boundaries  nearly  to  those  which  had  marked 
the  Western  Roman  Empire  on  the  east.  Many  of  the 
Slavic  tribes  that  joined  the  Germans  on  the  east  acknow- 
ledged his  supremacy,  and  the  Danes  were  taught  to  respect 
his  power. 
The  belief  161.   The  Revival  of  the  Roman  Empire.  — The  territories 

that  the  Em-    0f  Charlemagne  were,  by  the  year  800,  practically  those  of 
existed.  tne  °^  Ro™an  Empire  in  the  West.     All  the  lands  of  the 

continent,  which  were  still  Christian  and  which  had  ever 
been  Roman,  were  now  in  his  hands,  and  Germany  besides. 
To  all  men  who  thought  about  it,  it  would  seem  that  the 
Western  Empire  had  been  reconstructed.  The  theory  of 
the  eternal  dominion  of  Rome  had  not  been  forgotten,  es- 
pecially not  in  Italy.  In  a  vague  way,  sometimes  in  a  real 
way  in  the  case  of  the  pope,  the  supremacy  of  the  emperor 
at  Constantinople  had  been  recognized,  and  even  after  the 
quarrel  about  the  worship  of  images,  the  rights  of  the 
emperor  were  not  denied,  only  those  of  the  wicked  em- 
peror who  refused  to  follow  the  true  Christian  faith.  No 
one  who  knew  anything  of  the  past  realized  that  the  Empire 
of  Rome  had  come  to  an  end. 
The  pope  Now  the  time  had  come  when  the  West  could  have  its 

crowns  own  emperor  again.     On   Christmas   day,  800,  as  Charle- 

Charlemagne  r  ...  „      n         ,        ,         ,        , 

emperor,  800.  magne  was  wo'shipping  in  St.  Peter's  church,  the  pope 
crowned  him  emperor  of  Rome.  In  this  way  was  begun  a 
new  succession  of  emperors  of  Rome  in  the  West,  which 
continued  through  medieval  and  modern  history  to  the  be- 
ginning of  the  nineteenth  century.  This  title  must  be  care- 
fully distinguished  from  that  of  king  in  all  history  which 
follows  the  crowning  of  Charlemagne.  There  could  be,  as 
men  thought,  only  one  emperor,  the  emperor  of  Rome. 
There  was  no  emperor  of  Germany  nor  of  Austria  until 
Napoleon  changed  the  fashion  of  things  by  making  himself 
emperor  of  the  French.  Since  then  emperor  has  meant 
but  little  more  than  king,  but  before,  it  had  been  the  highest 


§§  1 62,  163]  Charlemagne  s  Schools  169 

of  all  temporal  titles,  and  in  medieval  times,  when  men  be- 
lieved in  what  they  called  the  Holy  Roman  Empire,  the 
emperor  was  thought  to  have  the  same  sort  of  headship  of 
the  temporal  world  that  the  pope  had  of  the  religious. 

162.  The  Missi  Dominici.  — This  title  added  but  little  to  A  new 
Charlemagne's  real  power,  though  much  to  his  position  in  instltutlon  of 

•     i       r  ■«         1  i-ii  n  government. 

the  minds  of  men.     But  the  power  which  he  actually  exer-  Hodgkin, 

cised  was  growing  as  his  territory  grew.     As  great  a  states-  242-245 ; 

man  as   he   was   a   warrior,  Charlemagne   devised   a   new  civilization 

political  institution  to  overcome  the  constant  tendency  to  during 

local  independence,  and  to  hold  the  counts  under  a  close  Middle  Ages, 
responsibility  to  the  government.     This  institution  was  the      9~ 
office  of  the  missi  dominici,  or  king's  messengers. 

The  counties  of  the  Empire  were  grouped  together  into  To  hold  the 

circuits.     To  each   of  these  circuits  were  sent  every  year  co^nts  to  a 

strict  re- 

two   officers   from   the   court.      In   each   of    the   counties  sp0nsibiiity. 
assi^  led  them  they  were  to  hold  an  assembly  of  the  free-  Edict  con- 
men,  or  they  held  a  great  assembly  for   the  whole   circuit,  ceming  the 
and  in  these  assemblies  the  counts  must  make  a  report  of  ^tss^ 

r  Henderson, 

the  way  in  which  they  had  administered  their  office,  com-   189-201.  See 
plaints  were  heard  against  them,  and  all  abuses  were   in-   aisoZeiier, 
quired  into.     On  their  return  the  missi  made  Charlemagne 
familiar  with  the  condition  of  things  throughout  the  whole 
Empire. 

It  was  an  institution  admirably  adapted  to  keep  a  great  This  institu- 
empire  closely  centralized  and  under  control,  to  overcome,   tl0n  haf 

1.1  1  i,.i  1  i-i  1  come  down 

that  is,  the  tendency  to  local  independence  which  we  have  to  us- 
noticed  in  the  case  of  the  counts,  and  it  was  destined  to  a 
long  life.  In  the  age  that  followed  Charlemagne  it  lost 
something  of  its  efficiency,  but  it  passed  from  the  Franks  to 
the  Normans,  and,  revived  in  England  still  later  to  serve 
something  like  its  original  purpose,  it  finally  grew  into  the 
Anglo-Saxon  circuit  court  system. 

163.  Charlemagne's    Schools.  —  Charlemagne    was    also  A  kind  of 
greatly  interested  in  education.     He  called  from  England  public  school 
Alcuin,  who  passed  for  the  most  learned  man  of  the  time,   teller,  in. 
and  other  teachers  from  Italy,  and  tried  to  organize  a  gen- 


A  turning 
point  in 
history. 
Bryce,  Holy 
Roman 
Empire, 

63-75. 
Hodgkin, 
Chap.  XIII. 


170  The  Empire  Revived.     Charlemagne      [§  164 

eral  system  of  schools  throughout  the  Empire.  In  the  school 
of  the  palace  his  own  children  were  taught,  with  others  from 
various  parts  of  the  Empire,  who  were  especially  promising ; 
the  monasteries  and  cathedral  churches  were  expected  to 
maintain  good  schools,  and  even  the  parish  priests  to  give 
elementary  instruction.  As  an  organized  system  Charle- 
magne's reforms  were  not  permanent,  but  the  impulse  which 
he  gave  to  learning  lasted.     Some  of  the  individual  schools 


mm  k  tan. 


Ytafm 


9 


h&WturWIt 


.TDeflDtt 


Signature  of  Charlemagne 

survived,  men  knew  more  of  books,  and  wrote  better  Latin 
than  they  had  done  before,  and  those  who  wished  to  learn 
found  it  easier  to  do  so. 

164.  Charlemagne's  Place  in  History.  —  Charlemagne's 
reign  fills  but  a  short  time  in  the  long  period  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  but  it  binds  the  whole  together.  In  him  is  completed 
the  process  which  runs  through  the  first  half,  the  Germani- 
zation  of  the  Roman  Empire.  There  was  a  Roman  Empire 
again  uniting  Christian  Europe  together,  but  it  was,  as  it 


Topics  1 7 1 

called  itself  later,  "  The  Roman  Empire  of  the  German  Na- 
tion." The  ruling  race  was  German  and  the  emperor  was 
a  Frank.  From  the  end  of  his  reign,  also,  begins  the  process 
which  runs  through  the  second  half,  the  formation  of  the 
modern  nations,  independent  members  of  an  international 
system,  which  we  call  now,  not  the  Roman  Empire,  but 
Christendom.  All  the  forces  of  union  and  of  civilization 
were  strengthened  by  his  reign,  and  though  his  empire  was 
not  permanent,  its  influence  never  ceased. 


Topics 

How  had  the  way  been  prepared  for  what  Charlemagne  was  to  do? 
How  did  the  position  which  he  took  in  Italy  differ  from  his  father's? 
The  character  and  results  of  the  Saxon  War.  Why  were  not  the  Span- 
ish conquests  carried  further?  State  the  territories  finally  embraced 
in  Charlemagne's  empire.  In  what  points  was  this  like  the  Western 
Roman  Empire?  Why,  in  your  opinion,  was  the  title  Emperor  of 
Rome  revived  in  800?  How  did  "emperor"  differ  from  "king"  in 
meaning  before  Napoleon?  The  duties  of  the  missi  dominici.  Char- 
lemagne's school  system.     His  place  in  history. 


Topics  for  Assigned  Studies 

The  Saxon  wars.     Einhard,  Chaps.  VII.  and  VIII.     Hodgkin,  Chap. 

VI.     Mombert,  101-153. 
The   revival   of  the   Empire.     Bryce,   Holy   Roman   Empire,   44-61. 

(Three    original    accounts    translated.)       Hodgkin,    Chap.    XI. 

Mombert,  357-368.     Sergeant,   The  Franks,  243-247. 
The   school   system.      Mullinger,    Schools,   68-108.      Einhard,   Chaps. 

XXIV.  and  XXV.     Mombert,  241-270.     Hodgkin,  235-238. 
Charlemagne  as  a  landlord.     The    capitulary  de  villis.     Penn.,   III., 

No.  II.     Zeller,  III. 


Topics  for  Review 

Compare  Nero's  reasons  for  persecuting  the  Christians  with  those  of 

Marcus  Aurelius. 
Compare  the  conversion  of  Clovis  with  that  of  Constantine. 
Trace  the  passage  of  the  Visigoths  from  their  entrance  into  the  empire 

until  their  final  settlement. 


172  The  Empire  Revived.     Charlemagne 


Trace  the  history  of  the  Roman  law  through  the  whole  of  this  period. 

What  historical  events  in  succession  were  witnessed  by  "  Father  Rhine  " 
during  this  period? 

Of  each  province  of  the  Western  Empire,  state  what  German  or  other 
conquerors  occupied  it  in  succession,  and  by  whom  it  was  per- 
manently held. 

Important  Dates 


A.D.      14 

.     Death  of  Augustus. 

180 

.     Death  of  Marcus  Aurelius. 

250     . 

.     An  invasion  of  the  Goths. 

284 

.     Diocletian  emperor. 

323      • 

.     Constantine  emperor. 

325 

.     The  council  of  Nicaea. 

378 

The  battle  of  Hadrianople. 

379 

.     Theodosius  emperor. 

410    . 

.     Capture  of  Rome  by  Alaric. 

449 

First  German  settlement  in  Britain. 

476 

.     .     Romulus  Augustulus  deposed. 

The  Teutonic  Nations 

The  Church 

The  East 

486. 

Clovis'  first  victory. 

493- 

Theodoric,  king  in 
Italy. 

527.  Justinian,  emperor. 

553- 

End  of  Ostrogoth  ic 

kingdom. 

59 

3.  Gregory     I.,     the 
Great,  pope. 

7.  Augustine's     mis- 
sion to  England. 

622.  The  Hegira. 

638. 

Dagobert  I.  d.  The 
last  strong  Mero- 
vingian king. 

661.  The  Ommiad    ca- 

687. 

Battle  of  Testry. 

73 

B.  Lombards    attack 
Rome. 

liphs. 
750.  The  Abbassid  ca- 

751. 

Pippin,  king  of  the 

liphs. 

Franks. 

75 

5.  The    donation    of 

768. 

Charlemagne,  king 
of  the  Franks. 

Pippin. 

800. 

Charlemagne,   em- 
peror. 

814. 

Death    of    Charle- 

magne. 

PART   V 

THE  FORMATION  OF  THE  NATIONS 

Books  for  Reference  and  Further  Reading 

Gregorovius,  History  of  the  City  of  Rome  in  the  Middle  Ages.  (Bell, 
Macmillan;  $12.00.)  5  vols,  now  translated,  to  beginning  of  the 
XIV.  century.  A  history  of  the  papacy  and  of  the  Middle  Ages 
as  related  to  Rome. 

Bryce,  The  Holy  Roman  Empire.     8th  edition.     (Macmillan;   $1.00.) 

Jenks,  Lata  and  Politics  in  the  Middle  Ages.  (Holt ;  $2.75.)  Insti- 
tutional history. 

Lavisse,  General  View  of  the  Political  History  of  Europe.  (Long- 
mans; $1.25.)     Suggestive  outline  sketch. 

Luchaire,  Manuel  des  Institutions  Francaises  sous  les  Capetiens  directs. 
(Paris;    15  francs.) 

Schroder,  Lehrbuch  der  deutschen  Rechtsgeschichte.      (Berlin.) 
Both  very  valuable  on  all  points  of  institutional  history. 

Green,  History  of  the  English  People.     4  vols.     (Harper;   $10.00.) 

Traill,  editor,  Social  England.     6  vols.     (Putnam;   $3.50  per  vol.) 

Kitchin,  History  of  France.     3  vols.     (Clarendon  Press;   $2.60  per  vol.) 

Henderson,  History  of  Germany  in  the  Middle  Ages.  (Bell,  Mac- 
millan; $2.60.) 

Reber,  Mediceval  Art.     (Harper;  $5.00.) 

Tout,  Empire  and  Papacy.  "Periods"  series,  918-1273.  (Mac- 
millan; $1.75.) 

Emerton,  Mediceval  Europe.  814-1300.  (Ginn  ;  $1.65.)  Gives  ref- 
erences to  the  chief  collections  of  sources. 

Adams,  Civilization  during  the  Middle  Ages.  (Scribner;  $2.50.) 
The  connection  and  significance  of  historical  events. 

Bohn's  Libraries  (Macmillan)  contain  many  translations  of  medieval 
sources,  especially  of  English  chronicles.     These  are  specifically 
referred  to  in  the  course  of  this  part. 
173 


74       Breaking  up  of  Charlemagne 's  Empire 


Summary 

The  strong  union  of  Christian  Europe  which  Charlemagne 
had  formed  did  not  long  survive  him.  The  forces  of  disunion 
were  many  and  powerful,  and  his  descendants  were  not  able  to 
deal  with  them.  The  Empire  was  broken  up  after  a  time  into 
many  states,  but  its  first  real  successor  was  the  feudal  system 
which  had  begun  to  assume  its  final  form  even  under  Charle- 
magne—  a  system  which  allowed  great  independence,  both 
economic  and  political,  to  the  fragments  of  the  state  while  main- 
taining in  form  the  general  government.  The  anarchy  of  the 
time  and  the  need  of  local  protection  were  greatly  increased  by 
the  inroads  of  the  Northmen  and  of  the  Hungarians.  The  North- 
men established  permanent  colonies  in  northern  France  and  in 
England,  and  in  the  latter  country  postponed  for  some  time  the 
union  of  all  the  Anglo-Saxon  states  into  one  which  had  been- 
rapidly  advancing  under  the  West  Saxons.  On  the  extinction 
of  the  family  of  Charlemagne  in  Germany  a  native  dynasty  was 
elected,  and  under  the  first  kings  of  the  Saxon  family  there  was 
great  promise  of  the  formation  of  a  strong  nation.  In  France 
somewhat  later  a  native  dynasty  also  obtained  the  throne  in  the 
family  of  the  Capetians,  but  here  the  kings  remained  very  weak 
for  several  generations.  In  England  still  later  real  national 
existence  began,  first  under  the  Danish  king  Cnut,  and  then 
under  William  the  Conqueror.  The  German  kingdom  was  so 
strong  under  Otto  I.  that  a  revival  of  the  Roman  Empire  of 
Charlemagne  seemed  a  natural  thing,  but  this  step  fatally  weak- 
ened the  government  at  home,  and  it  brought  the  new  Empire, 
the  Holy  Roman  Empire,  into  a  long  rivalry  and  conflict  with 
the  other  great  medieval  world  power,  the  papacy.  The  govern- 
ment of  the  Church  was  now  beginning  to  assume  its  modern  form 
under  the  influence  of  the  ideas  of  Cluny,  carried  out  by  the  great 
statesman  Hildebrand,  Pope  Gregory  VII.  The  first  period  of 
the  conflict  between  these  ideas  and  the  Empire  under  the  Fran- 
conian  emperors  ended  in  a  compromise  in  the  Concordat  of 
Worms,  but  it  was  really  a  victory  for  the  papacy,  which  was 
never  again  subject  to  the  control  of  the  Empire.  The  second 
period  of  the  strife  under  the  Hohenstaufen  emperors  saw  not 
merely  the  destruction  of  the  imperial  power,  which  could  never 
afterward  be  reconstructed,  but  also  the  dissolution  of  the  Ger- 
man nation  into  a  host  of  independent  and  even  hostile  frag- 
ments ;  and  Italy  experienced  a  similar  fate.  At  the  close  of  this 
conflict  the  age  of  the  crusades  was  also  closing.     Europe  had 


§  l65j  Causes  of  Division  175 

thrown  itself  upon  the  Saracen  world  to  recover  the  Holy  Land 
with  immense  enthusiasm,  but  without  definite  system  or  good 
leadership,  and  after  establishing  the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem  had 
ended  by  losing  all.  But  the  economic  and  indirect  political 
results  of  the  crusades  constituted  a  revolution  in  history.  Com- 
merce increased  rapidly,  great  cities  multiplied  and  accumulated 
wealth  and  through  wealth  power,  money  circulated  in  larger  quan- 
tities, the  condition  of  the  serf  was  improved,  the  third  estate 
rose  to  political  influence,  the  state  by  taxation  and  a  paid  army 
was  made  independent  of  the  feudal  system,  and  in  alliance  with 
the  new  conditions  overthrew  that  system.  It  was  the  time 
when  medieval  economic  and  political  conditions  passed  away 
and  modern  began.  France  and  England  were  the  two  states  in 
condition  to  profit  the  most  from  these  changes,  and  their  later 
medieval  history  is  that  of  one  long  struggle,  on  the  part  of 
France  to  secure  possession  of  all  her  territory  and  to  organize 
a  strong  state,  and  on  the  part  of  England  to  retain  her  French 
possessions.  For  a  century  France  gained  nothing.  Then 
Philip  Augustus  conquered  northwestern  France  from  John,  and 
his  son  and  grandson  secured  southeastern  through  the  troubles 
of  the  Albigenses.  After  an  interval  came  the  long  struggle  of 
the  Hundred  Years1  War,  in  which  twice  the  English  nearly 
conquered  France  and  an  English  king  was  crowned  in  Paris 
but  in  the  end  the  French  nation,  under  the  lead  of  Joan  of  Arc 
expelled  their  enemies  and  reestablished  their  independence. 
In  the  meantime  in  government  the  French  kings  had  been  able 
to  create  an  absolutism,  and  the  English  barons  and  commons 
a  limited  and  constitutional  monarchy.  Germany  had  never 
recovered  either  the  imperial  power  or  national  unity,  nor  were 
national  governments  possible  in  Italy  or  Spain. 


CHAPTER   I 

THE  BREAKING  UP  OF  CHARLEMAGNE'S  EMPIRE 

165.  Causes  of  Division. —  The  unity  of  Christian  Europe  Numerous 
which  Charlemagne  had  established  did  not  last.  The  time  influences 
had  been  too  short  to  weld  the  different  peoples  together  aeainsfu 
into  a  single  nation,  and  the  causes  of  separation  were  too 
many  and  too  powerful  to  be  overcome.     Local  patriotism 


against  unity. 


J 6     Breaking  up  of  Charlemagne  s  Empire     [§  166 


Communi- 
cation from 
place  to  place 
very  slow 
and  difficult. 


The  locality 
becomes  the 
economic 
and  political 
unit. 


or  tribal  feeling,  —  we  may  very  soon  begin  to  speak  of  this 
as  national  feeling,  —  the  constant  tendency  of  the  counts 
and  barons  to  make  themselves  independent,  the  working  of 
the  Frankish  idea  that  the  king's  territories  must  be  divided 
among  his  heirs,  combined  with  the  fact  that  the  genius  of 
the  Carolingian  house  comes  to  an  end  with  Charlemagne, 
were  too  strong  for  the  still  feeble  idea  of  the  Empire  and 
even  for  the  more  real  world  monarchy  of  the  Church. 

166.  Economic  Condition. —  One  great  difficulty  in  the  way 
of  ruling  so  large  a  state  as  Charlemagne's  underlay  all  the 
others,  and  made  it  almost  impossible  for  a  united  govern- 
ment to  be  maintained.  This  was  the  difficulty  of  commu- 
nication from  one  place  to  another  in  those  days.  Roads 
and  bridges  had  fallen  rapidly  out  of  repair  when  the  Roman 
supervision  had  come  to  an  end,  and  the  means  of  convey- 
ance were  now  very  primitive  and  slow.  It  was  a  time 
when  there  was  very  little  commerce  carried  on  between  one 
part  of  the  country  and  another,  and  even  very  little  money 
in  circulation.  Each  little  portion  of  the  country  depended 
very  largely  on  itself  to  supply  its  own  needs.  Now  we  may 
be  very  sure  that  if  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  commerce 
were  so  great  that  men  gave  up  such  a  universal  practice  as 
trying  to  make  money  by  conveying  goods  from  one  place 
to  another,  the  government  would  find  it  very  difficult  to 
keep  up  communication,  to  know  what  was  going  on  in  dis- 
tant parts  of  the  state,  and  to  maintain  its  authority  in  widely 
separate  places.  Charlemagne's  institution  of  the  viissi 
dominici  had  been  very  wisely  planned  to  meet  this  difficulty 
by  carrying  the  authority  of  the  king  down  into  each  locality, 
but  this  office  rapidly  lost  its  efficiency  under  his  successors, 
and  even  went  out  of  general  use. 

The  result  was  that  each  little  locality  was  thrown  upon 
its  own  resources  to  supply  not  merely  what  it  needed  in  the 
way  of  goods,  but  also  what  it  needed  in  the  way  of  govern- 
ment and  protection.  This  meant  at  last  the  local  indepen- 
dence of  the  count  or  baron  against  which  the  Carolingians 
had  so  long  struggled.     In  other  words,  this  meant  the  final 


§§  1 67,  1 68]  The   Treaty  of  Verdun  177 

establishment  of  the  feudal  system,  and  this  is  the  age  when 
feudalism  becomes  the  prevailing  form  of  political  organiza- 
tion for  Europe,  and  its  growth  is  one  of  the  forms  of  the 
dissolution  of  the  Empire. 

167.  Lewis  I.  the  Pious.  —  The  Empire  of  Charlemagne  Lewis  1., 
passed  to  the  next  generation  undivided,  for  only  one  of  his  ^t-84^ 
sons  survived  him.     He  was  called  Lewis  the  Pious,  because 

of  his  devotion  to  the  Church,  and  in  his  case  this  meant  a 
degree  of  submission  which  seems  to  us  superstitious  in  a 
sovereign.  He  has  also  been  called  Lewis  the  Debonnaire, 
which  means  the  Good-natured,  and  in  such  times  to  be 
a  king  who  seemed  to  everybody  good-natured  was  to  be  a 
weak  king.  This  was  the  character  of  Lewis.  He  was  a 
weak  king.  He  could  not  keep  control  of  things  as  his 
father  had  done.  In  the  last  years  of  his  reign  he  had  many 
quarrels  with  his  three  sons,  who  were  anxious  to  enter  into 
the  inheritance,  but  were  never  satisfied  with  the  divisions 
of  it  which  were  made.  At  his  death,  Lothair,  the  eldest, 
became  emperor,  and  kingdoms  were  given  to  the  other 
two,  —  Lewis  and  Charles. 

168.  The  Treaty  of  Verdun.  —  The  brothers  quarrelled  at  The  "Oath 
once,  and  in  just  a  year  after  the  death  of  their  father,  the   of  St™s~ 
great  battle  of  Fontenay  was  fought,  the  two  younger  being  Oman, 
united  against  Lothair.     The  two  brothers  won  the  victory,  Periods, 
and  the  next  spring  cemented  their  alliance  by  the  "  Oath  4?8_4°9 ; 
of  Strasburg,"  which  has  come  down  to  us  and  is  the  earliest  Europe,  ' 
specimen  we  have  of  the  languages  which  have  grown  into  25-28. 
modern  French  and  German.     Lothair  was  forced  to  accept 

their  terms,  and  in  the  following  year  the  great  treaty  of  Ver-  843. 

dun  was  made  —  the  most  permanent  in  its  influence  on  the  ^raan: 

map  of  Europe  of  any  treaty  ever  made.     The  way  in  which  410-412 ; 

these  three  brothers  divided  their  father's  empire  should  be  Emerton, 

carefully  fixed  in  mind  because  it  helps  us  to  understand  g*^?''  2  ' 

many  things  that  have  happened  in  history  even  down  to  the  Empire, 

present  time,  and  it  explains  some  of  the  peculiar  features  76-78. 
of  the  map  of  Europe  as  it  now  exists. 

Lothair  was  recognized  as  emperor.     In  all  the  divisions 

N 


178       Breaking  up  of  Charlemagne  s  Empire    [§  169 

The  division  of  these  times  the  Empire  is  never  divided.  Every  one 
made  by  the  believed  that  to  be  one  and  indivisible.  The  territory  of  the 
Venhin.  Empire  might  be  cut  up  into  kingdoms,  but  there  was  only 

one  emperor.  To  Lothair  was  given  a  very  peculiar  terri- 
tory, and  in  this  lies  the  significance  of  the  division  for  later 
history.  He  was  given  Italy  of  course,  because  that  con- 
tained Rome,  and  starting  from  Italy  a  long  narrow  strip  of 
land  following  first  the  course  of  the  Rhone  and  then  that  of 
the  Rhine  to  the  North  Sea.  As  Charles'  kingdom  after- 
wards became  France,  and  Lewis'  Germany,  the  effect  of 
this  arrangement  was  to  put  between  these  two  states  a  very 
important  strip  of  territory  to  which  at  the  beginning  neither 
had  a  valid  claim.  When  some  time  later  the  title  of  em- 
peror became  attached  to  the  kingdom  of  Germany,  this 
fact  seemed  to  give  that  country  the  best  right  in  the  inter- 
mediate land,  and  for  a  time  at  least  Germany  did  acquire 
the  larger  share  of  it,  but  after  a  time  the  French  language 
began  to  make  inroads  into  these  regions,  and  following  it 
the  French  government  obtained  possession  of  many  pieces 
of  the  territory.  Some  of  these  Germany  has  recently  re- 
covered, and  very  possibly  the  question  to  whom  they  shall 
finally  belong  is  not  yet  settled. 
The  place  of  It  was  in  this  territory  of  Lothair  also  that  small  states 
states"1*  ^*&  an  °PPortumty  t0  f°rnl  themselves.     Five  of  these  have 

Europe.  had  some  important  place  in  history,  and  three  of  them, 

Holland,  Belgium,  and  Switzerland,  still  exist.  Just  south 
of  Switzerland  was  the  county  of  Savoy,  which  grew  into  the 
duchy  of  Savoy,  and  then  into  the  kingdom  of  Sardinia,  and 
finally  into  the  present  kingdom  of  Italy.  As  near  Switz- 
erland on  the  other  side  was  the  county  of  Burgundy,  which 
became  attached  later  to  the  French  duchy  of  Burgundy 
and  promised  with  it  at  one  time  to  grow  into  a  rich  and 
powerful  state  and  to  include  nearly  all  the  northern  part  of 
Lothair's  land. 

1 69.  The  End  of  the  United  Empire.  —  In  the  period 
which  followed  this  treaty  many  subdivisions  were  made, 
and  the  power  of  the  general  government,  that  is  of  the 


i69] 


The  End  of  the  United  Empire 


179 


Empire,  was   constantly  growing   less.      For   a  little  time  The  last 
Charles  the  Fat,  son  of  Lewis  of  Germany,  became  king  of  charie^  ° 
all  the  larger  kingdoms  as  well  as  emperor,  but  he  could  not  magne's 


The  Cathedral  at  Worms 


master  the  difficulties  which  confronted  him,  and  was  finally  whole 

deposed.     This  may  serve  as  well  as  any  event  of  the  time 

to  mark  the  dissolution  of  Charlemagne's  united  empire, 

and  the  point  at  which  the  organization   of  the  modern  440-443- 


empire. 
Oman, 
Periods. 


180     Breaking  up  of  Charlemagne 's  Empire     [§  17° 


887. 


Saracens, 
Hungarians, 
and  North- 
men. 
Oman, 
Periods, 
Chap.  XXIV. 


The  last  of 
the  German 
migrations. 
Keary, 
Vikings  in 
Western 
Christendom 
(Putnam) ; 
Johnson,  The 
Normans  in 
Europe 
(Epochs). 

The  extent 
of  the  incur- 
sions of  the 
Northmen. 
Johnson, 
Normans, 
Chap.  II. 

In  America, 
Am.  Hist. 
Leaf.  No.  3; 
Old  South, 

3i; 
Fiske, 

Discovery  of 
America, 
1. 151-226. 


nations  begins.  It  is  some  time  yet  before  they  have  a  defi- 
nite existence,  but  their  formation  is  the  most  important 
fact  of  the  period  which  follows. 

170.  The  New  Barbarian  Invasions. — The  difficulties 
which  general  government  had  to  contend  with  in  this  age 
were  greatly  complicated,  and  the  insecurity  which  made  easy 
the  growth  of  little  local  powers  was  everywhere  greatly 
increased  by  incursions  of  barbarians  from  almost  all  direc- 
tions. The  Saracens  troubled  the  southern  frontiers.  The 
Hungarians  were  beginning  the  invasions  from  the  east 
which  lasted  a  long  time  and  finally  gave  rise  to  modern 
Hungary.  But  most  harassing  of  all  were  the  attacks  of  the 
Northmen,  which  affected  every  coast  and  which  were  so 
unexpected  and  swift  that  general  defence  was  almost  impos- 
sible and  each  locality  had  to  do  the  best  it  could  for  itself. 

The  invasions  of  the  Northmen  were  the  last  of  the  Ger- 
man invasions.  They  were  the  only  German  people  left 
who  had  not  already  taken  part  in  this  movement.  That 
they  made  their  attacks  by  sea  was  due  to  their  situation, 
and  in  this  fact  and  in  all  details  of  method  their  invasion 
is  exactly  like  the  earlier  Saxon  conquest  of  Britain.  Danes 
and  Norwegians  composed  most  of  the  bands  which  went 
to  the  west,  and  the  Swedes  those  going  east,  where  in  the 
neighborhood  of  the  Baltic  a  kingdom  was  established  under 
the  dynasty  of  Ruric,  which  in  after  times  expanded  into 
the  empire  of  Russia. 

171.  The  Northmen.  —  All  the  coasts  of  the  world  which 
were  within  reach  were  visited  by  these  adventurous  rovers  : 
all  the  British  islands,  the  Atlantic  coasts  of  Europe  and 
Africa  down  to  the  desert,  the  whole  Mediterranean,  and  to 
the  west  Iceland,  Greenland,  and  some  part  of  eastern 
North  America.  Wherever  they  found  anything  which  they 
wanted  they  took  it,  and  all  Europe  was  in  fear  of  them  for 
a  hundred  years.  They  made  people  everywhere  extremely 
concerned  about  the  means  of  defending  themselves,  and 
this  led  to  a  great  age  of  building  walls  around  towns,  and 
of  strong  castles  which  might  protect  the  country  districts. 


§172] 


Rollo  in  Normandy 


181 


Such  a  time  sifted  out  also  the  skilful  leaders  of  defence 
from  the  poor  ones,  and  some  of  the  later  great  families  of 
Europe  got  their  start  in  this  way. 

The  Northmen  founded  a  number  of  colonies ;  for  ex- 
ample, in  Iceland,  northern  Scotland,  and  northeastern 
Ireland.  But  we  are  especially  interested  in  two  of  their 
colonies,  because  they  had  so  much  to  do  with  our  own  his- 
tory, —  that  of  Normandy  in  northern  France,  and  that  of 
England  itself. 

172.  Rollo  in  Normandy  and  the  Danes  in  England. — 
Early  in  the  tenth  century  a  great  force  of  the  Northmen 
was  in  northern  France,  where  they  had  seized  Rouen  and 
were  threatening  the  rest  of  the  kingdom,  when  the  Caro- 
lingian  king,  Charles  the  Simple,  proposed  to  their  leader, 
Rollo,  that  he  should  settle  down  with  his  men  in  perma- 
nent possession  of  the  country  and  become  his  vassal  for  it. 
This  Rollo  consented  to  do,  and  so  was  created  in  the  course 
of  time  the  great  duchy  of  Normandy,  which  came  up  the 
Seine  almost  to  Paris,  and  embraced  the  whole  north  cen- 
tral coast  of  France.  Here  more  and  more  Northmen  set- 
tled. They  became  Christians  and  were  quickly  civilized, 
dropping  their  own  language  and  customs  and  adopting 
those  of  their  new  home.  The  dukes  of  Normandy  were 
in  general  faithful  vassals  of  the  French  kings,  but  they  were 
very  independent  and  were  for  a  long  time  as  powerful  as 
their  sovereigns. 

In  England  the  colonization  affected  a  larger  portion  of 
the  country,  and  the  whole  of  it  was  at  one  time  a  Danish 
kingdom.  The  conquest  of  the  island  by  the  Saxons  had 
founded,  as  we  have  seen,  seven  independent  kingdoms. 
The  next  stage  in  the  history  of  England  was  the  formation 
of  a  single  kingdom  by  the  union  of  all  the  seven.  But  it 
took  a  long  time  to  decide  which  one  of  the  kingdoms  was 
to  unite  the  others  under  its  rule.  For  a  while  Northum- 
berland and  Mercia  strove  with  one  another  for  the  su- 
premacy. Then  just  after  the  close  of  Charlemagne's 
reign,  Wessex  rose  to  be  the  ruling  state  under  King  Ecg- 


The  leader 
of  the  North- 
men becomes 
duke  of 
Normandy. 
Freeman, 
Norman  Con- 
quest, I. 107- 
120; 

Johnson, 
Normans, 
34-4L 


The  North- 
men were 
called  Danes 
in  England. 
Green,  Con- 
quest, Chap. 
II.;  Keary, 
Vikings, 
Chap.  XII. 


1 82      Breaking  tip  of  Charlemagne *s  Empire     [§  !73 


Alfred  the 
Great,  871- 
901. 

Stubbs,  62 ; 
Powell, 
Alfred  and 
the  Danes 
(Contem- 
poraries). 


A  united 
England 
forming. 


A  Scandina- 
vian empire. 
Green,  Con- 
quest, Chap. 
VIII.; 
Freeman, 
Norman  Con- 
quest, I., 
Chap.  V. 


berht.  But  in  the  next  generation,  and  before  the  union 
was  completed,  the  attacks  of  the  Danes  became  very  fre- 
quent. Soon  after  the  middle  of  the  century  they  began  to 
make  permanent  homes  in  England  and  speedily  overran 
the  country  north  of  the  Thames.  Here  they  made  one  of 
their  leaders  king,  and  at  once  advanced  to  the  conquest 
of  Wessex. 

173.  Alfred  the  Great.  —  This  was  the  condition  of 
things  when  yElfred  became  king.  He  was  a  brave  and 
skilful  warrior,  but  at  first  the  enemy  was  too  strong  for  him, 
and  he  was  forced  to  abandon  the  field  and  even  to  conceal 
himself  in  the  swamps  and  among  the  peasantry.  Finally 
he  collected  new  forces  and  gained  a  great  and  decisive  vic- 
tory at  the  battle  of  Ethandun.  After  this  the  Danes  were 
willing  to  make  peace,  to  recognize  Alfred  as  the  lord  of 
their  king,  whose  kingdom  was  bounded  by  the  Thames,  to 
become  Christians,  and  to  settle  down  peacefully  in  the 
land.  Alfred  reigned  for  nearly  twenty-five  years  after  this 
treaty,  and  ruled  in  his  little  kingdom  as  wisely  as  Charle- 
magne in  his  great  empire.  He  did  a  great  deal  for  learn- 
ing, translated  many  books  himself,  reorganized  the  army 
and  the  navy,  improved  the  laws,  and  left  to  his  people  the 
memory  of  a  noble  character. 

174.  The  Second  Danish  Invasion.  —  The  successors  of 
Alfred  undertook  the  work  of  recovering  northern  Eng- 
land from  the  Danes,  and  pushed  it  steadily  though  slowly 
forward  until  by  a  little  past  the  middle  of  the  tenth  cen- 
tury they  had  carried  their  rule  as  far  as  Edinburgh.  A 
united  English  nation  was  rapidly  forming  throughout  the 
territory  occupied  by  the  Teutonic  "settlers,  Saxons,  Angles, 
and  Danes,  when  at  the  end  of  the  tenth  century  there 
came  a  new  Danish  attack.  This  differed  from  the  earlier 
one  in  the  fact  that  its  object  was  less  to  find  a  new  land  for 
the  Danes  to  dwell  in  than  to  conquer  England  and  annex 
it  to  a  great  Scandinavian  monarchy  ruling  the  whole  north 
of  Europe. 

Two  Saxon  kings  strove  to  defend  England  against  these 


§  174]  The  Second  Danish  Invasion  183 

invasions,  ^Ethelred  the  Unready,  or  the  king  without  coun- 
sel,—  so  called  because  he  never  seemed  to  know  what  to 
do,  —  with  very  little  success,  and  his  son,  Eadmund  Iron- 
side, with  greater  skill  and  vigor.     Eadmund  died,  however, 
within   a  few  months  of  his  father,  and   then  the   Danish 
king,  Cnut;  of  whom  so  many  stories  are  told  us,  became  The  reign 
undisputed  king  of  all  England.     Cnut  was  really  a  great  ofCnut- 
man,  and  he  ruled  a  great  kingdom,  uniting  England,  Den-   stubbs,  73. 
mark,  and  Norway,  and  other  lands  about  the  Baltic.     Eng- 
land he  strove  to  rule  not  as  a  conqueror,  but  as  a  native 
king,  as  indeed  he  was  to  a  large  portion  of  the  people,  and 
in  his  reign  the  union  of  all   the  various  elements  into  a 
nation  went   rapidly  forward.     Cnut's  kingdoms  separated 
on  his  death ;  and  though  two  of  his  sons  succeeded  in  turn 
in  England,  their  reigns  were  short,  and  on  the  death  of 
the  last  the  English  were  glad  to  restore  the  old  West  Saxon   1042. 
line  in  the  person  of  Eadward,  the  brother  of  Eadmund 
Ironside. 


Topics 

Why  was  not  the  united  government  created  by  Charlemagne  main- 
tained? What  was  the  condition  of  commerce?  Why?  The  effect 
on  government?  What  would  be  the  effect  on  our  civilization  of  a  re- 
turn to  the  last  century's  methods  of  travel  and  transportation?  The 
character  of  Lewis  I.  Give  the  boundaries  of  the  divisions  made  by 
the  treaty  of  Verdun,  and  state  the  influence  of  this  division  on  the 
later  map  of  Europe.  How  long  after  Charlemagne's  death  did  his 
empire  remain  united  in  name?  What  parts  of  the  Empire  were 
attacked  by  the  barbarians?  The  character  of  the  attack  of  the 
Northmen.  What  parts  of  the  world  did  they  visit?  Their  per- 
manent settlements  in  France  and  England.  Reign  and  character  of 
vElfred.  Character  of  the  second  Danish  invasion  of  England.  The 
empire  of  Cnut.  By  which  one  of  the  original  Saxon  states  was  the 
united  kingdom  of  England  formed? 

Topics  for  Assigned  Studies 

Lewis  the  Pious.  Oman,  Periods,  Chap.  XXIII.  Henderson,  Germany, 
Chap.  VI.  Emerton,  Europe,  13-25.  Adams,  Civilization,  170- 
173.     Zeller,  III.     The  Division  of  817.     Henderson,  201. 


184       Breaking  tip  of  Charlemagne  s  Empire 

Alfred  the  Great.  Hughes,  Alfred  the  Great.  (Macmillan.)  Pauli, 
Alfred  the  Great  (Bohn),  contains  translation  from  Alfred. 
Green,  Conquest  of  England  (Harper),  Chap.  IV.  English 
People,  I.  75-82.  Freeman,  Norman  Conquest,  1.  33-35.  Keary, 
Vikings,  384-404. 

Cnut.  Green,  Conquest,  Chap.  IX.  English  People,  I.  99-102.  Free- 
man, Norman  Conquest,  I.,  Chap.  VI. 


CHAPTER   II 

THE  FEUDAL  SYSTEM 

175.    The  Conditions  which   gave  Rise  to  Feudalism. — 

While  the  older  Empire  was  falling  to  pieces  and  the  new 
independent  monarchies  were  taking  on  their  first  forms,  a 
great  system,  half  political  and  half  economic  in  character, 
was  coming  into  existence,  —  a  system  which  has  had  a 
most  profound  influence  on  all  later  history.  This  was 
feudalism.  The  double  character  of  this  institution,  partly 
political  and  partly  economic,  shows  that  two  distinct  sets 
of  causes  were  at  work  to  produce  it.  Underlying  both  was 
probably  one  prevailing  condition  of  things  which  favored 
the  action  of  these  causes.  This  was  the  difficulty  of  in- 
tercommunication which  followed  the  destruction  of  the 
Roman  system  of  roads  and  bridges,  and  the  substitution 
of  more  primitive  methods  in  both  government  and  com- 
merce for  the  highly  organized  Roman  civilization. 

As  government  proved  by  degrees  in  the  age  of  decline  The  inde- 
unable  to  do  its  work  throughout  the  wide  extent  of  the  pendenceof 
Empire,  the  localities  were  more  and  more  thrown  on  them-  hoodjf  gov-" 
selves  to   provide   for  their  own  necessities  in  the  way  of 
protection  and  order  and  the  enforcement  of  law.     So  also 
economically,  with   the  decline  of  commerce  and   the  in- 
creasing scarcity  of  money,  each  locality  was  in  the  same 
way  thrown  on  its  own  resources  to  supply  its  own  needs. 
Again,  it  was  inevitable  that  in  a  time  of  little  commerce 
the  chief  form  of  wealth  should  be  land;  and  on  one  side 
that,  in  a  time  of  a  very  scanty  currency,  the  rich  man,  who 
would  get  an  income  from  his  wealth,  should  be  obliged  to 

185 


1 86 


The  Feudal  System 


[§176 


rent  his  land  for  services,  and  on  the  other,  the  man  who 
had  only  his  personal  services  with  which  to  earn  his  sup- 
port should  be  obliged  to  sell  them  for  the  use  of  land. 
Both  these  causes  tended  to  the  same  result.  The  state 
was  broken  into  fragments  becoming  more  and  more  in- 
dependent. The  rich  and  strong  man  who  could  furnish 
protection  to  a  smaller  or  larger  territory  became  its  ruler. 
The  duties  and  rights  usually  belonging  to  the  government 
passed  into  his  hands.  The  military  force  and  the  local 
fortification,  which  kept  off  the  enemy,  —  that  is,  the  castle, 
—  belonged  to  him.  The  court  which  enforced  the  law  was 
his  court.  He  was  able  to  obtain  and  pay  his  little  army 
by  renting  his  lands  to  the  fighting  class,  who  paid  him  in 
military  service.  He  and  they  furnished  support  to  the 
laboring  class  by  renting  these  same  lands  to  the  men  who 
cultivated  them  and  so  paid  for  them  by  their  work  in 
ploughing  and  harvesting,  thus  forming  the  serf  class  at  the 
bottom  of  this  system. 

176.  The  Forms  of  the  Feudal  System.  —  The  institutions 
which  regulated  these  relations  and  formed  the  foundation 
of  the  feudal  law  go  far  back  for  their  origin  into  Roman 
times,  when  the  imperial  government  began  to  decline  and 
to  be  unable  to  protect  the  provinces,  but  by  the  ninth 
century  they  had  been  so  transformed  by  the  operation  of 
these  new  causes  as  to  be  quite  different  from  their  originals. 
Some  idea  must  be  obtained  of  the  forms  into  which  they 
grew,  because  of  their  permanent  influence  on  social  organi- 
zation and  on  some  departments  of  law. 

The  theory  of  the  feudal  system  which  has  come  down 
to  us  represents  it  as  a  much  more  orderly  and  regular  or- 
ganization than  it  was  in  reality  at  the  time  of  its  height 
in  the  tenth  and  eleventh  centuries.  This  is  because  the 
theory  was  put  into  shape  by  lawyers,  who  drew  up  law 
books  based  upon  the  feudal  law  at  a  time  when  the  system 
itself  was  falling  into  decay,  and  who  naturally  systematized 
the  law  as  far  as  possible.  This  is,  however,  of  less  impor- 
tance for  our  present  purpose,  because  it  was  very  largely 


§  i76]         The  Forms  of  the  Feudal  System 


187 


through  their  work  that  permanent  influence  was  given  to 
feudal  institutions.  In  this  theory  the  king  was  the  lord, 
or  suzerain,  of  the  whole  kingdom.  Next  to  him  were  the 
great  barons,  or  peers  of  the  realm,  who  held  large  portions 
of  the  kingdom  as  his  vassals.     Their  territories  in  turn  were 


Edinburgh  Castle 


divided  among  their  vassals,  who  were  thus  the  rear  vassals 
of  the  king,  and  so  on  down  to  the  smallest  piece  of  land 
which  would  give  a  man  income  enough  from  its  cultivation 
by  serfs  to  enable  him  to  make  fighting  his  whole  business. 
The  name  "vassal"  must  not  be  supposed  to  have  carried 
with  it  any  reproach  or  dishonor  in  feudal  days.     Quite  the 


i88 


The  Feudal  System 


[§§  i77,  178 


France  the 
most  feudal 
of  countries. 
Tout, 

Periods,  82- 
93,  with  map. 


Relief,  hom- 
age, and  in- 
vestiture. 
Hallam, 
Middle  Agest 
I.  170-181; 
Emerton, 
Europe,  488- 


contrary.  The  vassal  was  a  noble,  and  throughout  the  feudal 
ranks  all  were  at  the  same  time  vassals,  except  the  highest, 
and  suzerains,  except  the  lowest;  indeed,  so  strong  was 
the  idea  that  all  land  must  be  held  of  some  one,  that  it 
was  sometimes  said  that  the  king  was  God's  vassal  for  his 
kingdom. 

177.  The  Feudal  System  in  France. — It  was  in  France 
that  the  facts  most  nearly  corresponded  to  this  theory,  but 
the  correspondence  was  by  no  means  complete  even  there. 
The  kingdom  was  divided  up  into  a  number  of  great  feudal 
baronies.  In  the  north  was  the  duchy  of  France,  which 
belonged  to  the  Capetian  family,  the  duchy  of  Normandy, 
which  was  held  by  the  descendants  of  Rollo  the  Northman  j 
the  county  of  Brittany  at  the  western  corner,  and  that  of 
Flanders  at  the  eastern  ;  while  nearer  to  the  duchy  of  France 
lay  on  the  west  the  county  of  Anjou,  and  on  the  east  the 
county  of  Champagne.  In  the  centre  on  the  eastern  side 
was  the  duchy  of  Burgundy,  sometimes  held  by  the  Cape- 
tians ;  and  in  the  south  was  the  great  duchy  of  Aquitaine 
and  the  county  of  Toulouse.  But  these  great  baronies  were 
not  all  held  of  the  king,  nor  were  they  equal  in  rank,  while 
by  no  means  all  the  lords  of  the  smaller  baronies  held  their 
lands  of  the  great  barons.  Some  of  them  were  the  king's 
immediate  vassals.  It  was  only  when  the  feudal  system  was 
overthrown  as  a  political  institution  and  the  feudal  baron 
was  transformed  into  the  modern  noble,  that  the  grades  of 
rank  and  title  became  regular  and  fixed.  In  the  tenth  and 
eleventh  centuries,  customs  and  practices  —  and  these  were 
what  made  law  then  —  differed  very  widely  in  the  different 
localities,  and  the  real  feudal  system  is  characterized  by  a 
great  deal  of  what  seems  to  us  confusion. 

178.  The  Feudal  Rights  and  Obligations.  —  When  a  vas- 
sal died  his  heir  had  no  legal  right  to  succeed  to  the  fief 
because  it  was  land  which  his  father  had  held  merely  as  a 
tenant.  He  must  obtain  the  lord's  permission,  and  pay  a 
large  sum  for  it,  called  the  "  relief,"  though  the  lord  was  re- 
quired by  custom  to  grant  this  permission  unless  he  had 


§  179] 


The  Serf  Class 


189 


some  very  good  reason  for  not  doing  so.  Before  succeed- 
ing, the  vassal  must  perform  the  ceremony  of  "  homage," 
and  take  an  oath  to  be  faithful  to  his  lord,  and  sometimes, 
also,  an  oath  of  fealty  or  political  allegiance.  He  then  re- 
ceived "  investiture  "  of  the  fief,  and  this  completed  his  legal 
right  to  the  holding.  When  certain  circumstances  arose 
affecting  the  lord  or  his  family,  the  vassal  was  required  to 
pay  an  "aid."  There  were  usually  only  three  of  these: 
when  the  lord  was  taken  prisoner  and  had  to  be  ransomed  j 
when  his  eldest  son  was  knighted;  and  when  his  eldest 
daughter  was  married.  In  certain  other  circumstances, 
affecting  the  vassal,  the  lord  had  a  right  to  a  payment  or  to 
the  fief  itself.  One  of  these  was  the  relief  just  spoken  of. 
Another  was  the  right  of  wardship  when  the  vassal  was  a 
minor.  This  gave  the  lord  all  the  income  of  the  fief  as  long 
as  the  minority  lasted.  A  third  was  the  right  of  marriage, 
or  the  right  of  the  lord  to  select  a  husband  for  the  heiress 
of  a  fief,  on  the  ground  that  he  must  be  sure  that  the  new 
holder  of  the  land  would  be  acceptable  to  himself  and  fully 
able  to  perforin  the  duties  by  which  the  fief  was  held.  Very 
often  the  lord  simply  sold  to  the  heiress  the  right  to  make 
her  own  selection.  Escheat  occurred  when  the  vassal  left 
no  heirs,  and  then  the  fief  fell  back  entirely  into  the  posses- 
sion of  the  lord. 

179.  The  Serf  Class. — These  regulations,  and  indeed 
the  whole  body  of  the  feudal  law,  affected  the  vassals  only, 
or  the  fighting  class.  But  these  lands  had  also  to  be  culti- 
vated to  keep  people  alive.  This  was  done  by  the  serf,  or 
laboring  class,  and  the  same  lands  which  were  held  by  the 
vassals  under  the  feudal  regulations,  or  as  the  expression 
was,  by  "  noble  "  tenures,  were  also  held  by  serfs  under  dif- 
ferent regulations,  or  by  servile  tenures.  Each  lord,  instead 
of  granting  out  to  vassals  who  paid  military  service  the  whole 
of  the  fief  which  he  held,  kept  in  his  own  hands  a  part  of  it, 
which  was  called  the  "  domain  "  lands  of  the  fief.  This  he 
granted  to  serfs,  who  paid  him  in  labor  or  by  giving  him  a 
part  of  the  crops  which  they  raised,  and  these  payments  of 


494;  Duruy, 
Middle  Ages, 
201-206 ; 
Penn.  IV., 
No.  3; 
Fling, 

Studies,  II., 
No.  4. 

The  three 
feudal 
"  aids." 


The  culti- 
vators of  the 
soil. 

Emerton, 
Europe, 
510-520; 
Duruy,  Mid- 
dle Ages, 
208-213. 


190 


The  Feudal  System 


[§180 


The  origin  of 
tiie  serf  class 
I  see  p.  128). 


The  serf  is 
the  slave  on 
the  way  to 
freedom. 
Adams, 
Growth  of 
French 
Nation,  do- 


the serfs  formed  the  main  support  of  the  lord  and  his 
family. 

We  have  seen  how  the  serf  clztss^began  to  be  formed  in 
the  last  days  of  the  Roman  Empire,  onNiccount  of  the  grow- 
ing scarcity  of  laborers.  To  keep  the  soil  m  cultivation,  the 
state  gave  to  the  slave  a  little  piece  of  land,  and  took  away 
the  master's  right  to  remove  him  from  it.  It  was  not  a  very 
large  amount  of  legal  right  which  the  slave  secured  in  this 
way,  but  it  was  a  beginning,  and  it  led  in  time  to  the 
change  of  the  whole  slave  class  into  serfs.  By  the  end  of 
the  tenth  century  the  slavery  of  Christian  men  by  Christian 
men  had  almost  entirely  disappeared  from  Europe,  and  it 
never  returned.  In  the  history  of  labor,  serfdom  represents 
an  intermediate  stage  between  slavery  and  free  labor.  It 
is  the  condition  through  which  the  slave  passes  in  being 
transformed  into  the  freeman. 

180.  The  Condition  of  the  Serf  slowly  Improving. — 
Looked  at  in  this  way  the  serf  is  one  who  has  a  part  but 
not  all  of  the  rights  of  a  freeman.  As  time  goes  on  he  is 
securing  more  and  more  of  these,  until  at  last  he  cannot  be 
distinguished  from  a  freeman.  This  is  exactly  the  history 
of  medieval  serfdom.  The  general  condition  which  had 
led  to  the  change  at  first,  the  scarcity  of  cultivators,  con- 
tinued throughout  the  whole  period,  and  kept  securing  to 
the  serf  better  and  better  terms  for  his  labor.  The  prog- 
ress was  very  slow  during  the  first  half  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
because  until  the  cities  began  to  fill  up  and  manufactures 
to  increase  there  was  almost  no  place  to  which  the  serf 
could  go  to  better  his  condition.  If  he  left  the  piece  of 
land  which  he  held,  he  ran  great  risk  of  starving  to  death. 
But  there  was  much  new  land  brought  into  use  during  these 
centuries  by  clearing  and  draining,  and  this  made  now  and 
then  a  strong  demand  for  labor  from  which  the  serf  always 
gained  something.  In  the  last  half  of  the  Middle  Ages  we 
shall  see  new  causes  coming  into  operation  which  carried 
on  this  advancement  much  faster. 

As  serfdom  represents  a  transition  stage  in  the  history  of 


§  i So]    Condition  of  the  Serf  slowly  Improving      191 

labor,  we  should  expect  to  find  the  individual  serfs  on  a  Numerous 
domain  standing  in  different  grades  of  that  transition.     And   gradations 

...,  ,  ,..  ...  „  cry        of  serfdom. 

this  is  the  usual  condition  of  things,     borne  serfs  01  the    Hailam 
manor  at  the  bottom  are  hardly  to  be  distinguished  from   Middle  Ages, 
slaves.     Their  rights  are  very  few,  and  the  lord's  arbitrary   LSb   jIL 
power  over  them  is  very  great.     Others  have  made  more  ush  Constitu- 
advancement   and   are   protected   in   a   larger  number   of  tionai  His- 
rights,  while  at  the  top  may  be  a  class  hardly  to  be  distin-   Section  817 
guished  from  freemen. 

In  picturing  to  ourselves  the  organization  of  society  in  Vassals  were 
feudal  times,  we  should  be  careful  to  distinguish  between 
the  vassal  and  the  serf.  They  were  two  entirely  distinct 
classes,  subject  to  different  kinds  of  law,  and  very  sharply 
separated  from  one  another  in  the  days  when  the  feudal 
system  was  at  its  height. 


not  serfs. 


Topics 

What  economic  conditions  assisted  in  the  rise  of  feudalism?  What 
political?  Why  was  the  land  so  important  in  the  feudal  system?  Why 
was  protection,  which  we  obtain  so  easily,  so  difficult  to  get  in  those 
days?  How  far  back  in  time  do  the  forms  of  the  feudal  system  go? 
What  was  the  feudal  theory  of  the  state?  Where  most  nearly  realized? 
How  nearly  there?  Explain  the  most  important  feudal  rights  and 
obligations.  Explain  the  terms  "  suzerain  "  and  "  vassal."  State  fully  the 
difference  between  vassal  and  serf.  What  was  the  place  of  the  serf  in 
the  feudal  system?  How  did  the  serf  class  originate?  How  did  the 
general  feudal  conditions  improve  the  position  of  the  serf  ? 

Topics  for  Assigned  Studies 

The  origin  of  the  feudal  system.  Adams,  articles  in  Andover  Review, 
Vol.  VII.,  and  Civilization,  194-217.  Emerton,  Introduction  to 
the  Middle  Ages,  Chap.  XV.     Penn.  IV.,  No.  3. 

The  manor  and  its  working  population.  Penn.  III.,  No.  5.  Andrews, 
The  Old  English  Manor.     (Johns  Hopkins  Press.) 


CHAPTER    III 


THE  RISE  OF  THE  NEW  NATIONS 


Three  states 
assume  their 
modern 
form. 


No  real 
national 
unity  yet 
possible. 


Tribal 
disunion. 


181.  General  Conditions.  —  While  the  Danes  were  attack- 
ing and  conquering  England,  great  changes  were  also 
taking  place  on  the  continent  of  Europe.  The  dynasty 
of  the  Carolingians  disappeared  from  history  in  all  its 
branches,  and  the  great  states  which  were  emerging  from 
the  empire  of  Charlemagne  began  to  assume  the  appear- 
ance and  to  organize  the  governments  which  they  were 
to  retain  until  almost  the  present  time.  These  were  the 
states  of  Germany,  France,  and  Italy. 

One  fact,  it  must  be  remembered,  characterizes  all  these 
countries  alike  during  this  period  ;  that  is,  separation  into 
fragments,  the  lack  of  any  real  national  unity.  We  saw  in 
the  age  that  followed  Charlemagne  the  causes  which  were 
at  work  to  make  it  impossible  to  maintain  unity.  In  the 
tenth  century  these  causes  were  still  at  work,  and  it  was 
still  impossible  to  overcome  them  entirely.  With  this 
century  we  come  to  a  time  when  something  like  modern 
national  feeling  begins,  and  aids  very  possibly  in  the 
establishment  of  new  dynasties,  but  it  is  not  strong  enough 
to  unify  the  nation,  or  even  to  assist  in  the  establishment 
of  a  strong  government.  We  have  to  notice  how  in  these 
various  countries  the  new  dynasties  take  the  place  of  the 
old,  how  they  attack  the  difficulties  of  government,  with  what 
degree  of  success  or  failure,  and  to  what  extent  these  states 
are  coming  to  be  like  the  modern  ones  of  the  same  name. 

182.  The  Beginning  in  Germany.  —  In  Germany  the 
ordinary  causes  of  separation  were  reinforced  by  the  old 

192 


§  183]  The  Saxon  Kings  193 

tribal  differences  which  had  not  yet  died  out  and  which 
in  one  way  strengthened  themselves  in  this  period.  Saxons, 
Franks,  Bavarians,  and  Alemanni  or  Suabians,  each  retained 
a  local  patriotism,  and  in  the  weakness  of  the  state  tended 
to  rally  around  some  one  of  the  local  families  which  by 
getting  possession  of  the  office  of  duke  strove  to  found  a 
local  dynasty.  The  state  was  weakened  also  by  the  plun- 
dering raids  or  more  serious  attempts  at  conquest  of  the 
Hungarians,  a  Tartar  race  that  had  followed  the  Huns  and 
the  Avars  into  the  Danube  valley,  and  who  were  now  trying 
to  force  their  way  up  the  river  into  central  Germany,  as  the 
Turks  did  later. 

On  the  deposition  of  Charles  the  Fat  the  Germans  chose  Arnulf, 
as  kins:  Arnulf,  a  German  Carolingian  who  strove  with  much  888~899- 

,  .  .  Oman, 

energy  and  success  to  maintain  a  strong  government ;  but  peri0ds, 
his  line  died  out  in  a  few  years,  and  they  were  obliged  to   Chap. 

XXV1T  • 

make  a  new  choice.     Disregarding  the  French  Carolingians  Emert  "' 

the  other  side  of  the  Rhine,  they  selected  Conrad  of  Fran-  Europe,  ' 

conia.     Like  Arnulf  he  struggled  manfully  to  maintain  the  90-100. 
authority  of  the  crown,  but  with  less  success.     The  power 

of  the  dukes  was  greater  than   it  had  been,  and  Conrad  Co"r^gI" 

came  at   last   to   recognize  the   fact   that   the   king   must  Oman, 

depend  for  the  power  to  rule  the  state  on  the  resources  of  Periods,  475 ; 

his  own  family.     With   remarkable   patriotism,  before  his  Europe  'IOO 

death  he  advised  the  Germans  to  transfer  the  crown  to  the  Henderson, 

strongest  of  the  dukes,  Henry  of  Saxony.  Germany, 

183.  The  Saxon  Kings.  —  Both  Henry  and  his  son  Otto  I.        ' 

were  very  able  men.     They  beat  off  the  Hungarians,  and  918-936. " 

forced  the  great  nobles  who  were  striving  for  independence  Otto  I.,  the 
into  submission.     They  attempted   also  to  bring  about  a     r^l» 

permanent  reduction  of  the  power  of  the  dukes  by  with-  Tout, 

drawing  from  their  control  all  the  lands  belonging  to  the  Periods, 

king  within  their  territories,  and  by  granting  to  the  bishops  Em^t'on 

the  same  political  powers  over  their  lands  that  were  pos-  Europe, 

sessed  by  the  counts  and  the  dukes.     These  measures  were  J?3"*.14, 

for   a  time  successful,  and   by  the  year  950  the  king  of  Qermany, 

Germany  was  really  master  of  the  state,  and  the  German  119-128; 


194 


The  Rise  of  the  New  Nations     [§§  184,  185 


Scheffel, 

Ekkehard 

(novel). 

Map, 

Putzger, 

No.  15. 

No  national 

government 

had  taken 

form  in  Italy. 

Henderson, 

Germany, 

128-141 ; 

Emerton, 

Europe, 

115-129. 


962. 
Bryce, 
Empire, 
80-88. 

The  title  of 
emperor 
attached  to 
that  of  king 
of  Germany. 
Bryce, 
Empire, 
122-145. 


Otto  III., 
983-1002. 
The  emperor 
of  Rome 
loses  power 
as  king  of 
Germany. 
Bryce, 
Empire, 

145-149 ; 

Tout, 
Periods, 

40-47; 
Emerton, 
Europe, 
149-161. 


nation  was  in  a  fair  way  to  be  formed.  Then  occurred  an 
event  which  had  the  most  momentous  consequences  both 
for  Germany  and  for  the  world.  Otto  was  invited  to  go 
down  into  Italy. 

184.  The  Empire  revived  by  Otto  I.  —  Italy,  like  all  the 
states  at  this  time,  was  broken  into  fragments.  It  differed 
from  the  others,  however,  in  the  fact  that  no  one  of  the  local 
dynasties  was  strong  enough  to  establish  even  the  form  of 
a  national  government  which  could  have  any  permanence, 
and  begin  the  construction  of  a  nation.  They  were  in  per- 
petual conflict  with  one  another  for  supremacy,  and  out  of 
this  conflict  came  the  invitation  to  Otto.  In  951  he  made 
a  first  expedition,  in  which  he  contented  himself  with  forcing 
several  of  the  local  princes  to  recognize  him  as  their  lord. 
Ten  years  later  he  responded  to  another  invitation,  and  this 
time  he  was  crowned  king  of  Lombardy  and  emperor  of 
Rome. 

Since  Arnulf,  no  king  of  Germany  had  been  crowned 
emperor  of  Rome,  but  the  act  of  Otto  united  the  two 
crowns  in  such  a  way  that  from  his  time  the  chosen  king 
of  Germany  was  supposed  to  have  a  right  to  the  imperial 
crown  if  he  would  go  to  Rome  to  receive  it.  This  was  the 
founding  of  "  the  Holy  Roman  Empire  of  the  German 
Nation,"  which  lasted  in  form  at  least  to  the  opening  of  the 
nineteenth  century.  It  was  destined  to  have  most  disas- 
trous consequences  both  for  Germany  and  for  Italy,  and 
these  began  to  show  themselves  at  once. 

185.  The  Effect  of  the  Revival  of  the  Empire.  — The  short 
reign  of  Otto  II.,  filled  with  strife  and  a  third  of  it  spent  in 
Italy,  was  followed  by  a  long  minority,  and  then  Otto  III. 
became  king  and  emperor.  He  was  of  a  highly  imaginative 
mind,  and  because  he  was  descended  through  his  mother 
from  one  of  the  Greek  dynasties  which  had  held  the  Empire 
at  Constantinople,  he  believed  that  he  represented  in  a 
peculiar  way  the  ancient  emperors.  Germany  seemed  to 
him  of  little  account,  and  all  his  life  was  centred  in  Italy  and 
Rome.     In  the  reigns  of  these  two  Ottos  the  power  of  the 


§  i86] 


The  Beginning  in  France 


195 


German  king  which  the  first  two  Saxons  had  built  up  with 
such  difficulty  went  rapidly  to  pieces.  The  last  sovereign 
of  the  family,  Henry  II.,  was  a  good  man,  but  not  a  strong 
king,  and  he  could  only  begin  the  recovery  of  what  had  been 
lost. 

On  the  death  of  Henry  II.  the  Saxon  family  became  ex- 
tinct, and  the  Germans  went  back  to  Franconia  and  elected 
another  Conrad,  probably  of  the  same  family  as  Conrad  I. 
He  proved  to  be  a  vigorous  and  determined  king  and 
rapidly  reconstructed  the  royal  power.  The  kingdom  of 
Burgundy  was  annexed  to  the  Empire  in  his  reign,  and 
though  he  sought  the  imperial  crown  in  Italy,  he  did  not 
allow  his  interests  there  to  interfere  with  his  power  in  Ger- 
many. Since  the  time  of  the  first  Conrad  the  feudal  system 
had  been  introduced  into  Germany,  and  one  of  the  ways  by 
which  Conrad  II.  strengthened  his  power  was  by  encouraging 
the  independence  of  the  smaller  nobles  and  protecting  their 
interests  against  the  dukes  and  great  barons.  At  his  death 
Conrad  left  the  royal  power  far  stronger  than  it  had  ever 
been  before,  and  Germany  more  thoroughly  centralized 
under  a  single  government.  The  reign  of  his  son  Henry  III. 
opens  a  new  age  in  the  history  of  the  Empire. 

186.  The  Beginning  in  France. — By  this  time  also  a 
new  dynasty  had  firmly  established  itself  in  France.  In  the 
troublous  times  which  followed  the  first  attack  of  the  North- 
men, a  family  of  unknown  origin  had  come  into  possession 
of  Paris,  because  they  furnished  the  most  skilful  and  vigor- 
ous leadership  to  be  had  against  the  invaders.  From  this 
point  their  lands  grew  into  a  little  feudal  state  including 
Orleans  and  commanding  the  two  great  rivers  of  northern 
France. 

On  the  deposition  of  Charles  the  Fat,  the  head  of  this 
family,  Eudes,  son  of  Robert  the  Strong,  was  made  king  of 
France.  But  this  was  not  a  permanent  change  of  dynasty. 
He  was  succeeded  by  Charles  the  Simple,  a  Carolingian, 
who  gave  Normandy  to  Rollo,  and  for  a  hundred  years  the 
crown  was  transferred  back  and  forth  from  one  family  to  the 


The  second 

German 

dynasty. 

Recovery 

under  the 

first 

Franconians. 

Conrad  II., 

1024- 1039. 

Tout, 

Periods, 

47-60 ; 

Emerton, 

Europe, 

162-185 ; 

Henderson, 

Germany, 

166-173. 

The  feudal 
policy  of  the 
Franconians. 


The  origin  of 
the  Cape- 
tians. 
Adams, 
French 
Nation,  54. 


Two  families 
rivals  for  the 
crown. 
Kitchen, 
France, 
I.  169-178 ; 
Tout, 
Periods, 
Chap.  IV.; 


196 


The  Rise  of  the  Neiv  Nations    [§§  187,  188 


Emerton, 
Europe, 
400-420 ; 
Zeller,  IV. 


The  first  four 

Capetians, 

987-1108. 

Kitchen, 

France, 

I.  185-189; 

Adams, 

French 

A  at  ion , 

Chap.  VI. 


The  last 
Saxon  king, 
Edward  the 
Confessor, 
1042-1066. 
Green, 
English 
People, 
I.  103-X07; 
Stubbs,  76. 


other.  Hugh  the  Great,  who  was  the  head  of  the  new 
family  during  the  middle  years  of  the  tenth  century,  might 
have  made  himself  king  if  he  had  chosen,  but  he  preferred 
to  sustain  the  Carolingians.  On  the  death  of  Louis  V.  in 
987,  Hugh  Capet  was  made  king,  and  from  his  reign  on  the 
Capetians  have  held  the  throne  of  France  in  unbroken  suc- 
cession as  long  as  kings  have  reigned  there  at  all. 

187.  Kings  of  Little  Power.  —  In  truth,  during  all  this 
time  and  for  another  century  still  the  king  had  only  nominal 
power.  The  feudal  system  was  at  its  height  in  France,  and 
the  great  barons  who  divided  its  territory  among  themselves 
were  really  independent  sovereigns,  each  in  his  own  land, 
and  they  would  allow  to  the  king  no  control  over  their 
subjects.  The  early  Capetians  had  a  strong  position  in 
northern  France  and  ruled  as  their  own  one  of  the  most 
powerful  of  these  feudal  states,  the  duchy  of  France,  and 
they  were  very  faithfully  supported  by  the  Church.  These 
two  things  were  the  source  of  what  power  they  had  as  kings, 
but  the  next  three  kings  after  Hugh  Capet, —  Robert,  Henry, 
and  Philip, — whose  reigns  fill  the  whole  eleventh  century, 
could  do  no  more  than  make  a  beginning.  They  kept  se- 
cure possession  of  the  crown  and  prepared  the  way  for  better 
things,  and  that  was  success  enough  in  such  an  age  as  theirs.  1 

188.  The  Norman  Conquest  of  England.  —  In  England  as 
well  as  in  these  other  states  the  old  dynasty  comes  to  an 
end  and  a  new  one  takes  its  place.  After  the  two  sons  of 
Cnut  the  English  made  Eadward  the  Confessor  king,  brother 
of  Eadmund  Ironside,  but  a  very  different  man.  He  had 
passed  his  youth  during  the  time  of  the  Danish  kings  in 
Normandy,  which  was  his  mother's  home,  and  he  had  be- 
come more  Norman  than  Saxon.  He  liked  to  follow  Nor- 
man ways,  and  to  have  Normans  about  him  at  the  court. 
Besides,  he  was  a  man  of  rather  weak  character,  likely  to  be 
under  the  influence  of  some  one  else.  As  a  result  much  of 
his  reign  was  occupied  with  the  struggle  of  Saxon  and  Nor- 
man parties  which  prepared  the  way  for  the  Norman  con- 
quest after  his  death. 


§  1 88]        The  Norman  Conquest  of  England  197 


Eadward  left  no  children,  and  the  English  elected  Harold, 
son  of  the  great  Earl  Godwin  who  had  been  the  leader  of 
the  Saxon  party ;  but  William,  duke  of  Normandy,  insisted 
that  the  throne  had  been  promised  to  him  by  Eadward,  and 
that  Harold  had  taken  an  oath  to  support  his  claims.  He 
immediately  collected  a  great  army  and  soon  landed  on  the 
southern  coast  of  England  not  far  from  the  town  of  Has- 
tings. Harold,  who  had  only  just  beaten  an  invading  army 
under  the  king  of  Norway  in  the  north  of  England,  made  a 
brave  fight  for  his  crown  in  the  battle  of  Hastings,  but  was 
defeated  and  slain.  William  then  marched  through  the 
country,  turning  a  great  circle  to  the  north  side  of  London, 
which  then  surrendered  and  accepted  him  as  king.  There 
was  some  resistance  in  other  parts  of  the  kingdom  and  some 
rebellion  against  the  Norman  king,  but  William  subdued  all 
opposition  with  vigor  and  often  with  great  severity,  and 
finally  the  whole  land  was  brought  into  obedience. 


Topics 

What  three  states  of  the  continent  began  to  assume  a  modern  form 
after  the  dissolution  of  Charlemagne's  empire?  How  near  was  this  to 
national  unity  in  each  case?  What  difficulties  were  there  to  be  over- 
come in  Germany?  What  was  done  by  the  Germans  on  the  extinction 
of  their  branch  of  the  Carolingian  house?  The  two  great  kings  of 
the  first  German  dynasty.  Their  measures  to  strengthen  the  royal 
power.  Why  were  these  interrupted?  The  situation  in  Italy.  The 
effect  on  Germany  of  the  revival  of  the  Empire.  On  Italy.  What  was 
the  relation  of  the  two  titles,  "  Emperor  of  Rome  "  and  "  King  of  Ger- 
many" ?  How  does  the  reign  of  Otto  III.  show  the  effect  of  the  re- 
vival of  the  Empire?  Policy  followed  by  the  second  German  dynasty 
to  strengthen  the  royal  power.  The  origin  of  the  Capetians.  Com- 
pare the  substitution  of  a  local  dynasty  in  France  for  the  Carolingians 
with  that  in  Germany.  The  power  of  the  crown  under  the  first  four 
Capetians.  The  character  of  the  last  Saxon  king.  What  did  the  Eng- 
lish do  on  the  extinction  of  the  Saxon  line?  Had  William  any  right 
to  the  English  throne?     How  did  he  get  the  throne? 


Harold  king. 

Freeman, 

William  the 

Conqueror 

(Macmillan), 

51-62 ; 

Tennyson, 

Harold, 

(drama)  ; 

Bulwer, 

Harold 

(novel). 

The  battle  of 

Hastings, 

1066. 

Freeman, 

William  the 

Conqueror, 

82-99 ;  Social 

England, 

I.  231-244; 

Sources, 

Stubbs, 

79-91 ;  Gee 

and  Hardy, 

54-59;  Penn. 

III.,  No.  2; 

Henderson, 

7;  Kingsley, 

Hereward 

(novel). 


198  The  Rise  of  the  New  Nations 

Topics  for  Assigned  Studies 

The  Holy  Roman  -Empire.  Dante's  De  Monarchia ;  translated  in 
Church,  Dante.  (Macmillan.)  Bryce,  Holy  Roman  Empire, 
Chap.  VII.     Freeman,  essay  in  Historical  Essays,  I. 

The  battle  of  Hastings.  Freeman,  Norman  Conquest,  III.  301-339. 
Original  accounts,  all  in  Bohn :  Orderic,  I.  480-488.  William  of 
Malmesbury,  274-281.  Henry  of  Huntingdon,  209-212.  Mat- 
thew of  Westminster,  I.  559-564.  See  the  controversy  on  the 
battle  in  the  volumes  of  the  English  Historical  Review. 


CHAPTER   IV 

EMPIRE  AND   PAPACY 

189.  The  Papacy  during  the  Tenth  Century.  —  During  Great  decline 
the  age  when  the  feudal  system  was  at  its  height,  the  of  papal  in- 
papacy  had  suffered  in  common  with  all  general  govern-  ^ence- 
ments  a  great  decline.  At  the  middle  of  the  tenth  century,  Church  His- 
its  authority  in  Europe  was  almost  nothing,  and  in  Italy  tory>  n-  292~ 
and  Rome  it  was  used  as  the  tool  of  local  factions  in  their  ^churchm's- 
confiicts  with  one  another.  From  this  condition  it  was  tory,  iv.  279- 
rescued  for  a  time  by  the  Ottos,  who  appointed  a  series  of  ^.7:.,Adams' 

-  ,  ,  ,       ,  ,  ,     Civilization, 

reforming  popes  and  brought  the  papacy  under  the  control  227-238. 

of  the  Empire  as  it  had  been  in  the  days  of  Charlemagne. 

These  reforms  were  followed  by  a  speedy  relapse,  as  soon 

as  the  hand  of  the  Emperor  was  less  felt,  in  the  reigns  of 

Henry  II.  and  Conrad  II.     Soon  after  the  death  of  Conrad  Three  rival 

we  find  three  popes  at  once,  each  claiming  the  papacy  and  popes. 

each  refusing  to  recognize  the  rights  of  the  others.     It  was 

a  situation  which  called  for  the  intervention  of  the  emperor 

as  loudly  as  in  the  time  of  Otto  I. 

In  the  meantime  there  had  been  forming  and  growing  a  clear 
stronger  and  stronger  in  the  Church  a  theory  of  the  absolute   theory  of 
power  of  the  pope,  as  the  especial  representative  of  God  in  p^macy" 
his  moral  government,  which  was  much  clearer  and  more   "Dictate" 
logical  than  any  that  had  been  taught  before.     It  may  be   of  Greg°ry 
put  briefly  in  this  way:  The  Spirit  of  God  dwells  in  His   derson,  366; 
Church,  guiding  it  in  the  right  path  on  all  important  occa-   also  in 
sions.     The  pope  as  the  centre  and  representative  of  the   Mathews- 
whole  Church  is  especially  under  this  divine  influence,  and 
will  not  be  allowed  to  make  any  serious  mistake  in  deciding 

199 


200 


Empire  and  Papacy 


[§  190 


disputed   questions.      Therefore   all   parts   of  the   Church 

should  yield  him  implicit  obedience. 
reformfeat         x9°-    The  Reforms  of   Cluny.  — These  ideas   had   been 
Adams,  embodied  in  the  law  books  which  were  now  current  in  the 


Milan  Cathedral 


Civilization, 

239-244; 

Emerton, 

Europe, 

194-200. 


Church,  and  they  had  been  taken  up  and  made  still  more 
definite  by  the  leaders  of  a  strong  reform  movement  which 
had  started  from  the  monastery  of  Cluny  in  eastern  France. 
These  reformers  saw  more  clearly  than  had  ever  been  seen 
before  that  if  the  ideal  papacy  was  to  be  realized  in  fact, 
the  Church  and  the  pope  must  be  entirely  independent  of 


§  191]     Power  of  the  Empire  under  Henry  III     201 

the  State.  The  special  reforms  which  they  demanded  were 
all  directed  to  this  end.  In  the  first  place,  the  pope  must 
be  chosen  by  the  Church.  The  emperors  must  have  no 
longer  any  power  of  appointment.  In  the  second  place, 
the  bishops  and  great  officers  of  the  Church,  also,  in  the 
different  countries  must  be  freely  elected  by  the  Church 
without  dictation  from  the  State,  nor  could  the  State  even 
be  allowed  to  grant  to  the  prelate  investiture  of  the  lands 
which  formed  the  endowment  of  his  office.  These  lands  in 
the  feudal  age  were  looked  upon  as  a  fief,  and  the  bishop 
was  considered  a  baron,  so  that  the  State  had  really  some 
right  to  claim  a  voice  in  his  appointment.  It  was  the 
demanding  of  this  reform  which  gave  rise  to  the  great 
investiture  conflict  with  the  Empire.  Finally  the  rule  which 
had  been  of  long  standing  in  the  Church,  that  priests  should 
not  be  married,  was  to  be  rigorously  enforced,  and  all  the 
clergy  separated  entirely  from  the  world  and  its  interests. 

To  carry  out  these  reforms  would  demand  very  great  Circum- 
changes,  and  it  hardly  seemed  possible  that  they  could  be  st;inces  favor 
realized  in  an  age  of  so  general  corruption.  But  the  time 
proved  more  favorable  than  could  have  been  anticipated, 
and  the  century  which  followed  saw  an  enormous  increase 
in  the  independence  of  the  Church  and  in  the  power  of 
the  pope. 

191.    The  Power  of  the  Empire  under  Henry  III.  —  The   Henry  in., 
result  of  the  policy  which  Conrad  II.  had  followed  in  Ger-    i°39-i°56- 
many  had  been  to  make  the  king  very  strong  again.     His   /e^iods 
son,   Henry   III.,   is   the    most   powerful    German  king  of  96-103.  Map, 
history,  and  Germany  in  his  reign  had  the  strongest  govern-    Putzser> 
ment  and  was  the  nearest  to  a  united  nation  in  the  modern 
sense  of  any  of  the  states  of  Europe.     The   strength  and 
the  union  depended,  however,   far  more  on  the  character 
and  vigor  of  the  monarch  than  in  a  modern  state,  and  the 
government  was  likely  to  go  to  pieces  very  quickly  if  any- 
thing went  wrong  with  the  king.     But  for  the  time  being 
the  State  was  so  strong  that  Henry  III.  could  safely  give 
much  attention  to  affairs  in  Italy. 


202 


Empire  and  Papacy 


[§192 


The  emperor 
gives  the 
papacy  to  the 
reformers. 
Stephens, 
Hildebrand, 
(Epochs 
Ch.  Hist.), 
20-22 ; 
Fisher, 
Church  His- 
tory, 173. 


The  minority 
of  Henry  IV. 
Stephens, 
Hildebrand, 
Chap.  VI. 


The  car- 
dinals. 
Alzog, 
Church  His- 
tory, II. 
344-348 ; 
Fisher, 
essay  in 
Discussions 
(Scribner) ; 
the  decree 
in  Mathews. 

The  investi- 
ture strife. 
Alzog, 
Church  His- 
tory, II. 
481-51 1 ; 
Emerton, 
Europe, 
Chap.  VIII.; 
Tout, 
Periods, 
Chap.  VI. 


The  three  popes  whom  he  found  in  Rome  were  all 
deposed,  and  another  was  appointed  in  their  place.  He 
was  a  German,  and  in  succession  Henry  appointed  four 
popes,  all  Germans  and  probably  all  reformers.  Certainly 
with  the  third  of  these  popes,  Leo  IX.,  the  party  of  the 
Cluny  reformation  came  into  possession  of  the  papacy,  and, 
if  not  under  Leo,  at  least  soon  after,  the  man  who  is 
especially  identified  with  this  great  age  of  papal  history 
began  to  direct  the  policy  of  the  Church.  This  was  Hil- 
debrand, who  afterward  himself  became  pope  as  Greg- 
ory VII. 

192.  The  Beginning  of  the  Conflict.  —  If  Henry  III.  had 
lived  longer,  he  would  probably  have  continued  to  control 
the  popes,  and  the  Church  would  have  been  unable  to 
secure  its  independence  so  early  as  it  did.  But  his  early 
death  was  the  opportunity  of  the  papacy.  Henry's  son  was 
then  but  six  years  old,  and  a  long  minority  followed  during 
which  Germany  was  divided  between  hostile  factions,  and 
no  continuous  or  determined  intervention  in  Italy  was 
possible.  By  a  decree  of  1059  the  papacy  declared  its 
independence  of  the  emperor  in  the  choice  of  the  pope, 
which  was  to  be  henceforth  made  by  the  college  of  cardi- 
nals. 

In  Germany  the  strifes  of  the  long  minority  had  greatly 
weakened  the  government,  and  when  Henry  IV.  himself 
began  to  rule,  his  character  did  not  make  it  easy  for  him 
to  recover  the  power  of  his  father.  A  great  rebellion  of 
the  Saxons  was  hardly  subdued,  when  he  found  himself 
involved  in  open  and  desperate  conflict  with  Gregory  VII., 
who  had  just  been  made  pope.  This  conflict  fills  the  whole 
of  his  reign  and  almost  the  whole  of  his  son's.  It  was 
upon  the  special  question  of  the  appointment  of  bishops, 
and  is  known  as  the  investiture  strife,  because  of  the  great 
interest  of  both  Church  and  State  in  this  ceremony  in  the 
feudal  age.  In  reality  it  was  a  struggle  for  the  indepen- 
dence of  the  papacy  from  the  Empire,  and  for  a  position 
of  equality  with  it  as  a  great  European  power. 


§  J94]    Third  German  Dynasty,  the  Hohenstaufen    203 

193.  The  Conflict  and  its  Results.  — At  first  things  went  The  scene  at 
decidedly  in  favor  of  the  pope.     All  the  elements  of  oppo-   Canossa> 
sition  to  Henry  in  Germany  joined  the  party  of  the  pope, 

and  the  emperor's  friends  even  stood  aloof,  for  his  life  was 
such  that  many  believed  the  excommunication  was  deserved. 
The  isolation  of  Henry  forced  him  to  that  famous  scene  of 
humiliation  at  Canossa,  where  he  met  Gregory,  humbly  con- 
fessed his  sins  as  a  penitent,  and  received  the  absolution  of 
the  pope.  There  could  be  no  reconciliation  between  the 
Empire  and  the  papacy  at  this  time,  but  Henry  succeeded 
in  dividing  for  the  moment  his  enemies  and  in  gaining  an 
opportunity  to  form  the  party  of  his  friends.  When  he  was 
excommunicated  a  second  time,  it  was  easier  to  see  the 
political  motive  of  the  act  than  in  the  first  case ;  and  only 
at  the  end  of  his  life,  when  his  son  turned  against  him,  did 
his  fortunes  again  reach  the  lowest  point. 

Henry  V.,  though  he  had  joined  the  party  of  the  Church   X^?XXZ 
against  his  father,  was  obliged  to  take  up  his  father's  cause 
as  soon  as  he  became  emperor  himself.     The  strife  was  only       e,   on~ 
settled  in  1122  by  the  Concordat  of  Worms,  which  was  a  Worms. 
fair  compromise,  giving  to  the  Church   the  choice  of  the   Henderson, 
bishop,  but  allowing  the  State  to  reject  the  candidate  if  it  Mathews -ln 
did  not  approve  of  him.     In  the  larger  question  of  the  in-   in  England, 
dependence  and  power  of  the  pope,  the  conflict  closed  with   Gee  and 

.        ,  ,  .   ,  .  Hardy,  63 ; 

a  great  victory  for  the  papacy,  which  never  again  came  un-   Emerton, 
der  the  control  of  the  emperors,  as  it  had  once  been,  and  Europe,  269; 
which  was  from  this  time  on  one  of  the  greatest  powers  of   A.dams\. 

0  *  Civilization, 

the  world.  246. 

194.  The  Third  German  Dynasty,  the  Hohenstaufen. —  Theempe- 
Henry  V.  was  the  last  of  the  Franconian  dynasty.     After  ™rs  aban<Jon 

1  1       /•         •      1  •  1  1      •       -i     1        Germany  for 

the  interval  of  a  single  reign,  a  new  dynasty  obtained  the   itaiy. 
crown  of  Germany  and  of  the  Empire,  the  Hohenstaufen,  Adams, 
one  of  the  most  brilliant  families  of  all  history.     But  Ger-    Ciumzfio'^ 

J  247-252 ; 

many  was  now  greatly  changed  from  the  times  of  Henry  III.  Baizani,  The 

The  power  which  had  been  lost  in  two  generations  of  civil  PoPes  and  the 

war  could  not  be  recovered.     The  great  emperors  of  this  (Epochs* 

new  age,  Frederick  I.,  Henry  VI.,  and  Frederick  II.,  seek  to  Ch.  Hist.). 


204 


Empire  and  Papacy 


195,  196 


Absorption 
in  an  Italian 
state. 


TIk-  Norm. hi 
kingdom  of 
Sicily. 
Tout, 
Periods, 
103-109 ; 
Emerton, 
Europe, 
223-229 ; 
Johnson, 
Normans 
(Epochs), 
75-8i; 
Gibbon, 
Chap.  LVI. 


form  in  Italy  rather  than  in  Germany  the  basis  of  the  im- 
perial power.  Frederick  I.  does  not  actually  abandon  Ger- 
many. It  still  remains,  nominally  at  least,  his  residence ; 
but  he  makes  many  and  long  visits  to  Italy,  and  freely 
spends  all  the  resources  he  can  draw  from  Germany  in  the 
attempt  to  conquer  his  enemies  there.  Henry  VI.  and 
Frederick  II.  hardly  visit  Germany  at  all,  and  plainly  regard 
it  as  second  in  importance  and  interest  to  Italy. 

195.  The  Danger  to  the  Papacy. — The  policy  of  the 
Hohenstaufen  emperors  to  form  a  strong  government  in 
Italy  brought  them  at  once  into  conflict  with  two  deter- 
mined and  powerful  enemies.  The  one  was  the  pope.  If 
Italy  were  formed  into  a  single  state,  the  independence  of 
the  popes  would  be  destroyed,  as  they  believed,  and  the 
great  power  which  they  had  now  attained  in  Europe  and 
even  their  headship  of  the  Church  would  be  threatened. 
It  was  the  same  danger  over  again  which  had  menaced  the 
papacy  in  the  advance  of  the  Lombards  in  the  eighth  cen- 
tury. It  is  very  probable  that  these  fears  would  have  been 
realized  in  the  Middle  Ages,  though  when  the  temporal 
sovereignty  of  the  popes  was  at  last  destroyed  by  the  pres- 
ent Italian  kingdom,  these  consequences  did  not  follow. 

This  danger  became  a  very  immediate  one  when  the  mar- 
riage of  Henry  VI.  with  the  heiress  of  the  Norman  kingdom 
of  Sicily  brought  that  rich  and  military  state  into  the  han  Is 
of  the  emperor.  Some  Norman  adventurers  had  established 
themselves  in  southern  Italy  early  in  the  eleventh  century, 
and  begun  a  little  state  which  grew  rapidly  and  soon  be- 
came formidable.  After  some  wars  with  the  popes,  the 
Norman  rulers  formed  an  alliance  with  them,  and  were 
accepted  as  the  vassals  of  the  papacy  by  Nicholas  II.  This 
alliance  had  proved  of  great  assistance  to  the  popes  in  their 
conflict  with  the  Franconian  emperors,  but  now  the  Norman 
kingdom  was  on  the  side  of  their  enemies,  and  was  to  be 
made  the  very  foundation  of  their  power. 

196.  The  Cities  of  Northern  Italy. — The  other  enemy 
of  the  Hohenstaufen,  and  the  one  which  finally  prevented 


§196] 


The  Cities  of  Northern  Italy 


205 


the  accomplishment  of  their  plans,  was  the  great  cities  of    Frederick  I., 
northern  Italy.     These  had  been  growing  rapidly  rich  and  "52-119°. 
strong  during  the  Franconian  period  through  the  develop-  pJe,  chap, 
ment  of  commerce,  and  had  made  themselves  as  indepen-   XI.;  Free- 
dent  as  were  the  feudal  princes  of  Germany.     That  indepen-  ^V/1  His~ 
dence  was  of  course  as  much  threatened  by  the  plans  of  the  Essays,  1.; 


Harbor  of  Palermo 


Hohenstaufen  as  was  that  of  the  popes,  and  the  cities  were 
resolved  to  protect  it  to  the  utmost.  They  allied  themselves 
with  the  popes,  and  formed  with  one  another  the  Lombard 
League,  that  they  might  use  their  united  strength.  Frederick 
I.  found  some  allies  among  the  cities,  and  was  at  first  suc- 
cessful. At  one  time  the  city  of  Milan,  which  was  the  lead- 
ing city  of  the  League,  was  totally  destroyed.     The  ancient 


Emerton, 

Europe, 

282-312; 

Tout, 

Periods, 

Chap.  XI.; 

Henderson, 

410-430. 


206 


Empire  and  Papacy 


97,  198 


The  Lom- 
bard 
League. 
Duffy,  Tus- 
can Republics 
(Nations), 
Chaps.  VII. 
and  IX.-XI. 

The  battle  of 
Legnano, 
1 176.     Peace 
of  Venice. 
Henderson, 
425,  and 
Mathews. 
Peace  of 
Constance, 
Mathews. 

The  Guelphs, 
the  German 
rivals  of  the 
Hohen- 
staufen. 


Their  power 
broken  by 
Frederick  I. 
Tout, 
Periods, 
264-269. 


Innocent 
III., 

1198-1216. 
Alzog, 

Church  His- 
tory, II. 
574-586; 


Roman  law,  which  had  begun  to  be  actively  studied  in  these 
cities  with  the  growth  of  commercial  interests,  Frederick 
tried  to  some  extent  to  use  to  assist  his  plans,  because  it 
was  the  law  of  a  strong  monarchy  and  because  he  was  in 
name  the  emperor  of  Rome.  Finally,  in  the  great  battle 
of  Legnano,  Frederick's  army  was  destroyed,  and  he  was 
forced  in  the  treaty  of  Constance  to  recognize  the  virtual 
independence  of  the  cities. 

197.  Guelf  and  Ghibelline.  —  Frederick  might  perhaps 
have  succeeded  in  this  battle  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  oppo- 
sition in  Germany  of  the  great  rival  house,  that  of  the  Guelfs. 
They  had  been  rivals  of  the  Hohenstaufen  for  the  crown  to 
succeed  the  Franconian  dynasty,  and  had  never  become  rec- 
onciled to  their  defeat.  As  the  most  conspicuous  leaders  of 
the  opposition  to  the  emperor,  their  name  was  taken  as  that 
of  the  party  of  the  pope  and  the  cities  in  Italy,  while  those 
who  favored  the  emperor  were  called  Ghibellines.  These 
names  continued  in  use  for  the  political  parties  in  the  Italian 
cities,  and  become  of  especial  interest  to  us  again  in  con- 
nection with  the  life  of  Dante.  After  the  battle  of  Legnano, 
Frederick  turned  his  whole  strength  against  Henry  the  Lion, 
who  was  the  head  of  the  Guelfs,  drove  him  into  exile,  and 
confiscated  his  lands.  The  Guelfs  never  recovered  their 
power  in  Germany,  though  the  son  of  Henry  the  Lion,  Otto 
IV.,  became  emperor  for  a  few  years  after  the  death  of 
Henry  VI.,  —  and  as  emperor  was  forced  to  be  a  Ghibelline 
against  the  pope.  They  recovered  part  of  their  lands,  and 
some  of  these,  Hanover  and  Brunswick,  they  retained  into 
the  nineteenth  century. 

198.  The  Papacy  at  its  Highest  Point  of  Power.  —  Henry 
VI.  was  a  very  able  diplomatist,  and  he  came  near  accom- 
plishing by  negotiation  what  his  father  had  failed  to  do  by 
force.  But  as  his  plans  seemed  on  the  point  of  being  real- 
ized he  suddenly  died,  leaving  his  son,  the  future  Frederick 
II.,  a  mere  infant.  The  long  minority  which  followed  is  filled 
with  the  reign  of  the  most  powerful  pope  of  history,  Inno- 
cent III.     Circumstances  favored  him  throughout  all  Europe, 


§  i98]        The  Papacy  at  its  Highest  Point 


207 


and  he  exercised  a  power  which  was  really  above  kings,  and 
came  near  to  being  that  imperial  power  which  the  theory  of 
the  Holy  Roman  Empire  would  have  given  to  the  emperors. 
He  humbled  the  kings  of  England,  France,  and  Germany ; 
directed  a  great  crusade ;  and  destroyed  the  first  great 
heresy  which  had  arisen  in  the  west,  that  of  the  Albigenses. 
Frederick  II.  owed  the  possession  of  the  throne  of  Germany 
and  of  the  Empire  to  the  support  of  Innocent  III.  against 
the  Guelf  emperor,  Otto  IV.,  but  he  was  soon  involved  in 
the  old  conflict  with  the  papacy  and  the  cities.  In  this 
strife  he  depended  mainly  on  the  resources  which  he  could 
draw  from  Sicily,  and  though  this  kingdom  was  rich,  it  proved 
unable  to  sustain  the  long  strain  of  this  war.  Frederick 
gained  some  great  victories,  but  in  the  end  he  failed  as  his 
grandfather  had  done.  The  city  states  of  Italy  secured  their 
local  independence.  In  Germany,  also,  left  so  long  to  itself, 
the  cause  of  local  independence  strengthened  itself,  and 
both  these  great  states  pass  at  this  time  into  that  condition 
of  hopeless  division  into  fragments  from  which  they  have 
been  rescued  only  in  recent  times.  The  papacy  gained  even 
more  from  the  conflict  than  had  the  little  states  of  Italy  and 
Germany,  and  is  henceforward  one  of  the  great  powers  of 
Christendom,  not  in  military  strength,  but  in  influence  and 
moral  power,  while  the  Empire,  which  had  behind  it  such  a 
great  past,  sinks  now  to  be  a  mere  title  and  a  theory. 


Emerton, 

Europe, 

314-344 ; 

Tout, 

Periods, 
Chap.  XIV. 


Frederick  II., 
1215-1250. 
Alzog, 
Church  His- 
tory, II. 
586-600 ; 
Freeman, 
essay  in 
Historical 
Essays,  I. 

The  first 
result  of  the 
conflict. 
Adams, 
Civilization, 

256-257. 


Papal  Keys 


208  Empire  and  Papacy 

Topics 

Position  of  the  papacy  during  the  tenth  century.  The  idea  of  the 
reformers  in  regard  to  the  position  of  the  pope.  The  three  great  re- 
forms demanded  by  Cluny.  What  circumstances  favored  the  reform 
party?  The  power  of  Henry  III.  and  his  relation  to  the  papacy.  Ef- 
fect of  the  death  of  Henry  III.  What  was  the  "  investiture  "  question? 
Begun  by  what  pope?  What  led  Henry  IV.  to  go  to  Canossa  ?  How 
was  the  question  finally  settled  ?  What  was  the  policy  of  the  third 
German  dynasty  in  regard  to  the  Empire  ?  Why  was  this  especially 
dangerous  to  the  papacy  ?  Why  opposed  by  the  Italian  cities  ?  The 
origin  of  the  Kingdom  of  Sicily.  Its  relation  to  the  papacy.  How  did 
the  Hohenstaufen  family  obtain  it  ?  Its  bearing  on  their  plans  ? 
What  was  the  Lombard  League  ?  The  result  of  the  Italian  plans  of 
Frederick  I.  The  original  and  the  later  meaning  of  the  names  Guelf 
and  Ghibelline  ?  The  power  of  Innocent  III.  The  result  of  the 
reign  of  Frederick  II.  What  change  had  taken  place  in  this  period 
in  the  positions  of  the  Empire  and  the  papacy  ? 

Topics  for  Assigned  Studies 

Henry  IV.  at  Canossa.  Stephens,  Hildebrand  (Epochs,  Ch.  Hist.), 
125-134.  Tout,  Periods,  129-132.  Emerton,  Europe,  251-255. 
Henderson,  385. 

Guelf  and  Ghibelline.  Browning,  Guelphs  and  Ghibellines  (London  ; 
Methuen).  Machiavelli,  History  of  Florence  (Bohn),  Book  I., 
Chap.  V.  Duffy,  Tuscan  Republics  (Nations),  Chap.  X.  Tout, 
Periods,  Chaps.  X.,  XL 


CHAPTER   V 

THE  CRUSADES 

Books  for  Reference  and  Further  Reading 

Kugler,  Geschichte  der  Kreuzziige.  (Berlin;  n  marks.)  The  best 
manual  of  the  external  facts  of  the  age. 

Prutz,  Kullurgeschichte  der  Kreuzziige.  (Berlin;  14  marks.)  Very 
full  on  all  sides  of  the  life  of  the  age. 

Von  Sybel,  Geschichte  des  erslen  Kreuzzugs.  2d  edition.  (Leipzig; 
10  marks.)  Detailed  and  critical.  A  translation  of  the  first 
edition   is  antiquated. 

Archer  and  Kingsford,  Kingdom  of  Jerusalem.     (Nations.) 

Cox,  The  Crusades.     (Epochs.) 

Chronicles  of  the  Crusades.  (Bohn;  $1.50.)  Translations  of  chronicles 
of  crusades  of  Richard  I.  and  Louis  IX. 

Pears,  The  Fall  of  Constantinople.     Fourth  crusade.     (Harper;  #2.50.) 

Gray,  The  Children's  Crusade.      (Houghton;   $1.50.) 

Oman,  Art  of  War  in  the  Middle  Ages.  (Putnam.)  Military  criti- 
cism of  the  crusades,  pp.  229-350. 


199.  Place  of  the  Crusades  in  History.  —  Almost  at  the 
same  time  with  the  beginning  of  the  conflict  between  the 
Empire  and  the  papacy,  there  begins  another  great  Euro- 
pean movement,  which  is  as  thoroughly  characteristic  of 
the  Middle  Ages,  but  which  also  forms  the  turning-point 
towards  modern  history,  —  the  crusades.  In  the  causes 
and  motives  which  brought  them  about,  the  crusades  are 
typically  medieval ;  in  the  results  which  followed  from  them 
they  began  the  transformation  of  the  medieval  into  the 
modern. 

200.  Motives  of  the  Crusaders. — The  crusaders  them- 
selves were  personally  influenced  by  two  very  strong 
motives.  One  was  the  religious  —  the  belief  that  pilgrim- 
ages, especially  to  such  holy  places  as  those  in  Palestine, 

p  209 


The  turning- 
point  toward 
modern 
history. 


Religious 
and  worldly 
motives 
together. 


210 


The  Crusades 


201 


Adams, 
Civilization, 
259-268 ; 
Archer, 
Jerusalem, 

1-17 ; 

Cox, 

I 'ru.unles. 

Chap.  I. 


The  advance 
of  the  Turks. 
Archer, 
Jerusalem, 
17-25. 


Council  of 
Clermont. 
Cox, 

Crusades, 
Chap.  II. ; 
Archer, 
Jerusalem, 
28-34;  Penn. 
I.,  No.  2. 
The  march 
of  the  first 
crusade, 
1096. 
Archer, 
Jerusalem, 
Chap.  III.; 
Scott,  Count 
Robert  of 


would  be  the  best  penance  for  their  sins.  The  other  was 
the  love  of  adventure  and  the  enjoyment  of  personal  combat, 
which  is  a  little  later  so  prominent  a  feature  of  the  age  of 
chivalry.  Mingled  with  these  motives  were,  even  from  the 
beginning,  more  selfish  ones  —  the  desire  of  the  leaders 
to  secure  principalities  for  themselves  from  the  conquests 
made,  and  motives  of  commercial  gain,  which  become 
especially  active  in  the  later  crusades. 

201.  The  Beginning  of  the  First  Crusade.  — The  special 
occasion  of  the  first  crusade  was  the  advance  of  the  Seljuk 
Turks.  We  have  already  seen  their  rise  into  power  in  the 
caliphate  of  Bagdad,  and  they  continued  to  push  steadily 
to  the  west.  About  twenty  years  before  the  first  crusade 
they  captured  the  city  of  Jerusalem  from  the  Fatimite 
caliphs  of  Egypt,  and  the  pilgrims  from  the  west  began  at 
once  to  suffer  grievously  from  their  more  barbarous  disposi- 
tion. At  the  same  time  their  progress  in  Asia  Minor 
alarmed  the  Greek  emperors  at  Constantinople,  who  began 
to  fear  the  total  destruction  of  their  empire.  Their  call 
upon  the  West  for  help  came  just  at  the  time  when  the 
West  was  beginning  to  be  aroused  by  the  stories  of  the 
returning  pilgrims,  and  when  the  rapidly  increasing  power 
of  the  popes  gave  them  an  interest  in  heading  a  great  Euro- 
pean religious  movement  of  the  sort. 

Pope  Urban  II.  proclaimed  the  crusade  and  preached  it 
at  the  council  of  Clermont  in  southern  France,  where  his 
sermon  aroused  great  enthusiasm.  "God  wills  it,"  cried 
the  great  audience,  and  this  became  the  watchword  of  the 
crusaders.  The  first  crusade  was  composed  almost  wholly 
of  Frenchmen  or  Normans.  It  marched  in  four  divisions 
to  Constantinople,  one  from  the  region  of  Lorraine,  west 
of  the  Rhine,  one  from  the  north,  and  one  from  the 
south  of  France,  and  one  led  by  the  Normans  of  southern 
Italy.  The  year  before  their  march  a  great  crowd  of  un- 
armed peasants  and  rabble  of  the  lower  orders  had  been 
led  in  advance  by  Peter  the  Hermit  and  Walter  the  Penni- 
less, expecting  to  take  possession  of  the   Holy  Land  by 


Bird's-eye  View  of  Rhodes,  Time  of  the  Crusades 


212 


The  Crusades 


[§20: 


Paris 
(novel). 


miracle,   but   perishing   miserably   of  hunger   and    by   the 

sword  of  the  Turks  in  Asia  Minor. 
The  conquest       202.    The  Results  of  the  First  Crusade. — The   real  cru- 
of  the  Holy      sacje   j^    mucn    trouble    at   Constantinople   in    arranging 


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Land. 

Cox, 

Crusades, 

60-77; 

Archer, 

Jerusalem, 

Chap.  V.; 


matters  with  the  emperor,  who  had  not  expected  quite  so 
much  help,  and  feared  the  crusaders  almost  as  much  as 
the  Turks,  and  after  getting  free  from  Constantinople,  the 
crusaders  met  with  great  suffering  and  loss  in  their  march 
through  Asia  Minor.  At  the  northern  end  of  Palestine 
the  great  fortress  of  Antioch  had  to  be  taken.     This  was 


§  202]         The  Results  of  the  First  Crusade 


213 


accomplished  only  after  a  long  siege  and  very  heavy  losses,    Penn.  I. 
and  the  crusaders  had  no  sooner  obtained  it  than  they  were   No-  4- 
besieged   in   turn   by   a   great  army  of  Turks   which   was 
advancing  to  occupy  the   Holy  Land.     The  Turks   finally 


ST 

g      Ma  fog  rJC^1../}. 


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irxi^tAs^"eorg- 


•'o  o 


Durazzo 


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Sea 


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3andia    »     \ 


CRETE 


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35 


VormoiyliCo..N.Y. 


retired,  however,  after  inflicting  still  further  losses  on  the 
Christians,  and  the  way  was  at  last  open  to  Jerusalem.  That 
city  had  been  recovered  by  the  Saracens  of  Egypt,  and 
from  them  the  crusaders  took  it  by  storm  in  the  middle  of 
the  summer  of  1099,  three  years  after  their  departure  from 
Europe. 


214 


The  Crusades 


[§203 


The  kingdom 
of  Jerusalem. 
Archer, 
Jerusalem, 
Chap.  VII. 


The  second 
crusade, 

1147. 

Archer, 

Jerusalem, 

Chap.  XIV. 

Cox, 

Crusades, 

Chap.  V. 


The  third 

crusade, 

Saladin  and 

Richard  I., 

Cceur-de- 

Lion, 

1189-1192. 

Scott,  The 

Talisman 

(novel). 


The  army  of  the  crusaders  was  now  reduced  to  less  than 
one-tenth  the  number  with  which  they  were  said  to  have 
left  Europe,  and  nearly  all  of  these  returned  home  on  the 
capture  of  Jerusalem.  The  garrison  left  in  the  Holy  Land 
would  hardly  have  been  able  to  hold  it  but  for  the  divisions 
and  civil  war  which  existed  among  their  enemies,  and  the 
reinforcement  constantly  received  from  small  bodies  of 
knights  who  came  every  year  to  make  individual  crusades 
of  their  own.  The  conquests  of  the  first  crusade  were 
organized  at  its  close  as  the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem,  but  as 
the  only  political  system  with  which  the  crusaders  were 
familiar  was  the  feudal,  the  king,  Godfrey  of  Bouillon,  the 
ablest  and  least  selfish  of  the  leaders,  had  no  real  power. 
The  great  barons  of  the  kingdom  were  as  independent  as 
those  in  France  at  the  same  time. 

203.  The  Second  and  Third  Crusades.  —  Europe  was 
aroused  to  the  second  crusade,  about  fifty  years  after  the 
first,  by  the  capture  of  Edessa  by  the  Turks.  This  was  a 
fortress  to  the  east  of  the  Euphrates,  and  its  loss  seemed 
to  expose  the  Holy  Land  to  a  dangerous  attack  from  that 
side.  The  crusade  was  led  by  Conrad  III.,  king  of  Ger- 
many, and  Louis  VII.,  king  of  France.  They  tried  to  reach 
Palestine  by  the  overland  route,  but  failed  to  force  their 
way  through  Asia  Minor,  and  made  the  last  part  of  the 
journey  by  water.  An  attempt  to  take  Damascus  failed,  and 
the  crusade  really  accomplished  nothing. 

A  little  later  the  power  of  the  great  Sultan  Saladin  arose 
in  Egypt,  and  in  1187  he  captured  the  city  of  Jerusalem. 
This  called  forth  the  third  crusade,  the  most  brilliant  and 
the  best  known  of  the  series.  The  old  Hohenstaufen  Em- 
peror Frederick  I.,  Philip  Augustus,  of  France,  and  Richard 
the  Lion-Hearted  of  England  were  its  leaders.  Frederick 
died  on  the  way,  Richard  and  Philip  quarrelled,  and  the  king 
of  France  returned  home,  and  though  the  strong  fortress 
of  Acre  was  captured  from  the  Saracens,  little  else  was 
accomplished,  and  Jerusalem  remained  in  the  hands  of 
Saladin. 


§204] 


The  Later  Crusades 


215 


Knight  Templar 


204.  The  Later  Crusades.  —  The  fourth  crusade  started 
almost  immediately  on  the  failure  of  the  third.  It  was  pro- 
claimed by  Innocent  III.,  the  most  powerful  of  the  popes, 
and  was  organized  with  the 
highest  hopes.  Its  decision 
to  go  by  water,  however,  and 
the  bargain  which  it  made 
with  Venice  for  transporta- 
tion, placed  it  at  the  mercy 
of  that  unscrupulous  com- 
mercial republic.  With  much 
hesitation  the  crusaders  con- 
sented to  attack  Constanti- 
nople, with  some  idea  of 
obtaining  a  base  of  opera- 
tions against  Palestine,  but 
really  in  the  interest  of  Ven- 
ice in  her  conflict  for  control 
of  the   commerce    centring 

there.  The  attack  was  successful.  The  Greek  emperor  was 
driven  out.  The  so-called  Latin  Empire  was  established 
with  Baldwin  of  Flanders  as  emperor.  The  territory  of  the 
Empire  was  divided  into  feudal  states,  and  the  Venetians 
obtained  the  supremacy  which  they  desired.  This  Empire 
maintained  a  declining  existence  for  about  sixty  years,  when 
the  Greek  emperors  in  alliance  with  the  Genoese,  the  com- 
mercial rivals  of  the  Venetians,  recovered  their  old  position. 

The  later  crusades  are  of  little  interest.  The  emperor 
Frederick  II.  recovered  Jerusalem  by  a  treaty,  but  it  was  re- 
tained only  a  short  time.  Louis  IX.  of  France,  just  before 
the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century,  made  an  attack  on 
Egypt  to  conquer  the  Holy  Land  there,  but  was  unsuccessful. 
His  attack  on  the  Turks  in  Tunis  twenty  years  later  is  usu- 
ally reckoned  the  last  of  the  regular  crusades.  Individual 
efforts  continued  to  be  made  for  some  time  later,  but  Euro- 
pean states  and  sovereigns  could  no  longer  be  aroused  to 
such  great  expeditions  as  once.     Other  interests  had  arisen 


The  fourth 
founds  the  ' 
Latin  Em- 
pire, 1202. 
Pears,  Con- 
stantinople ; 
Oman, 
Byzantine 
Empire, 
(Nations), 
Chaps.XXII, 
and  XXIII.; 
Penn.  III., 
No.  1. 


1261. 


The  decline 
and  end  of 
the  crusades. 

Chronicles 
(Bohn), 
Penn.  I., 
No.  4. 


2i6  The  Crusades  [§  204 

to  occupy  their  attention  which  seemed  to  them  of  more 
immediate  importance,  and  indeed  the  spirit  of  the  whole 
world  had  changed,  largely  through  the  influence  of  the 
crusades  themselves. 


Topics 

Why  is  the  age  of  the  crusades  a  most  important  one  in  history? 
What  motives  especially  influenced  the  crusaders?  What  had  the  ad- 
vance of  the  Turks  to  do  with  the  first  crusade?  What  divisions  com- 
posed the  first  crusade?  What  did  it  accomplish?  The  character  of 
the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem.  What  was  the  occasion  of  the  second 
crusade?  How  did  its  route  differ  from  that  of  the  first?  What  did 
it  accomplish?  What  event  led  to  the  third  crusade?  Who  were  its 
leaders?  What  did  it  gain?  The  peculiar  character  of  the  fourth 
crusade?  How  was  Venice  interested?  Why  was  the  government 
established  by  this  crusade  called  the  "  I^atin  Empire  "  ?  How  long 
did  the  age  of  the  regular  crusades  continue? 


Topics  for  Assigned  Studies 

The  crusade  of  Richard  I.  Archer,  Crusade  of  Richard  I.  (Con- 
temporaries.) Chronicles  (Bohn).  Archer,  Jerusalem  (Nations), 
305-348.  Cox,  Crusades  (Epochs),  Chap.  VII.  Tout,  Periods, 
295-304. 

Arms  and  armor  of  crusading  age.  Oman,  Art  of  War,  Book  VI., 
Chap.  VI.  Archer,  Jerusalem  (Nations),  Chap.  XXIII.  Fling, 
Studies,  II.,  No.  5. 


Saracenic  Arms 


CHAPTER   VI 


THE  CHANGES  WHICH   FOLLOWED  THE  CRUSADES 


205.  The  Direct  Results  of  the  Crusades.  —  The  crusades 
had  a  most  profound  effect  on  the  people  of  Europe.  The 
age  was  one  of  great  stir  and  stimulus.  Mind  was  aroused. 
The  crusaders  were  brought  into  contact  with  better  civiliza- 
tions than  their  own,  and  were  taught  that  they  had  many 
things  yet  to  learn.  Before  the  age  of  the  crusades  had 
closed,  and  produced  at  least  in  part  by  them,  there  occurs 
the  great  intellectual  epoch  of  the  thirteenth  century  which 
created  the  scholastic  system  in  philosophy  and  founded  the 
universities  of  Europe.  This  intellectual  and  scientific  awak- 
ening of  Europe  we  shall  take  up  in  detail  at  a  later  point. 

An  even  more  immediate  effect  of  the  crusades  was  the 
stimulus  which  they  gave  to  commerce,  and  the  changes 
which  followed  in  this  direction  were  as  far  reaching  and 
profound  as  the  intellectual.  There  had  always  been  some 
commerce  since  the  days  of  the  Romans,  specially  in  some 
parts  of  Europe  as  in  the  towns  along  the  seacoasts,  but  in 
most  regions  of  the  West  it  had  been  very  scanty  and  irregu- 
lar. There  are  indications  of  increasing  trade  all  through 
the  eleventh  century,  but  the  crusades  when  they  began 
acted  immediately  to  increase  commercial  intercourse  in 
various  ways.  They  created  a  strong  demand  for  transpor- 
tation both  of  men  and  of  supplies.  They  brought  a  num- 
ber of  new  articles  into  use  in  the  West  for  which  there 
arose  at  once  a  good  demand.  An  interesting  example  of 
these  new  articles  is  sugar.  They  also  introduced  the  mer- 
chants of  Europe  to  new  peoples  with  whom  to  trade,  and 

217 


Intellectual 

stimulus. 

Adams, 

Civilization, 

270-276 ; 

Emerton, 

Europe, 

388-397. 


The  growth 
of  commerce. 
Adams, 
Civilization, 
279-290 ; 
Emerton, 
Europe, 
521-540. 

Zimmern, 
Hansa 
(Nations), 
1 1-20. 


2 1 8       Changes  which  followed  the  Crusades      [§  206 

improved  their  knowledge  of  commercial  routes  and  of  the 

science  of  navigation, 
increase  in  206.  The  Rise  of  the  Third  Estate. — Certain  results  of 

number  and    thjs  jncreased  commercial  activity  began  to  appear  at  once. 

power  of  the  .  ,  .,  ."....., 

cities.  One  of  these  was  the  rapid  growth  of  cities  in  all  the  coun- 

Adams,  tries  of  Europe,  with  large  population  and  with  great  ac- 

Civihzation,     cumuiations  0f  wealth.     This  meant  the  rise  of  a  new  class 

290-300; 

Fling,  beside  the  others  who  had  up  to  this  time  controlled  public 

studies,  11.,     affairs.     This  fact  is  called  the  rise  of  the  third  estate.     In 
os.    an   9.   me(jjevai  language  the  first  estate  was  the  clergy,  and  the 
The  "third      second  was  the  baronage.     Now  for  the  first   time    there 
estate."  appears  a  third,  that  of  the  mercantile  and  manufacturing 

'civilization     c^ass>  and  from  its  numbers  and  its  wealth  it  has  power  to 
304-310.  make  its  demands  listened  to  and  to  enforce  them.    The 

two  older  estates  can  no  longer  control  the  state  alone. 
They  must  now  share  their  power  with  the  third  estate. 
The  demand       207.  The  Third  Estate  on  the  Side  of  Strong  Government, 
for  security.     —  Qne  Qc  the  tnmgS  wnich  this  new  class  began  to  demand 
at  once  was  security  —  both  for  the  protection  of  property 
and  for  safer  and  better  means  of  communication.     The 
growing  government  of  the  state  found  great  assistance  from 
this   source  in  its  efforts  to  suppress  lawlessness,  and  to 
bring  the  private  wars  of  the  barons  to  an  end.     The  in- 
dividual noble  also  soon  found  it  profitable  to  put  the  roads 
and  fords  of  his  fief  in  order  and  to  build  bridges,  charging 
the  merchants  tolls  for  his  services,  or  to  furnish  an  armed 
escort  to  their  caravans  of  wagons  from  one  place  to  an- 
other.    He  did  not  realize  that  in  doing  these  things  he 
was  aiding  to  destroy  the  economic  conditions  which  sus- 
tained the  feudal  system  and  his  own  power. 
The  demand       Another  demand  of  the  third  estate  was  for  better  systems 
law#  of  law  and  of  law  courts.     It  was  of  great  importance  to  the 

merchant  that  law  should  be  uniform  and  should  be  system- 
atically enforced.  To  supplement  the  defective  local  laws 
for  this  purpose  they  brought  into  use  in  many  parts  of 
Europe  the  old  Roman  law,  which  had  been  highly  de- 
veloped on  the  side  of  commercial  law.     The  study  of  the 


§207] 


The  Rise  of  the  Third  Estate 


219 


Roman  law  in  the  code  of  Justinian  had  begun  in  Italy  just  The  Roman 
before  the  crusades,  and  from  there  it  had  spread  to  other  law- 
parts  of  Europe,  especially  after  the  founding  of  the  univer- 
sities.    As  for  law  courts  the  purposes  of  the  commercial 
classes  were  better  served   by  national  courts  than  by  the 
local  courts  of  the  feudal  baronies. 


Grand  Canal,  Venice 


In  these  ways  the  growth  of  the  towns  and  of  their  wealth  The  growth 
assisted,  directly  or  indirectly,  in  the  great  political  trans-  ofstronger 
formation  which  took  place  in  Europe  from  the  beginning 
of  the  thirteenth  century  on  —  the  substitution  of  more  gen- 
eral and  more  uniform  government  for  the  narrow  and  local 
political  arrangements  of  the  feudal  system.  The  Roman 
law,  if  taken  by  itself  alone,  was  a  strong  influence  in  this 
direction,  for  it  was  the  law  of  a  centralized  and  powerful 


220        Changes  which  followed  the  Crusades      [§  208 


government,  and  it  breathed  throughout  the  spirit  of  such  a 
system. 

208.  The  Effect  of  the  Increased  Use  of  Money.  —  An- 
other most  important  result  of  the  increase  of  commerce 
was  the  large  amount  of  money  which  it  necessarily  brought 
into  use.  This  fact  was  even  more  destructive  of  the  feudal 
system  than  the  rise  of  the  third  estate  with  its  new  de- 
mands, for  it  cut  from  under  that  system  its  whole  economic 
foundation.  The  regime  of  barter  was  no  longer  necessary. 
The  owner  of  land  could  now  obtain  an  income  from  it  in 
the  form  of  money,  and  he  could  purchase  with  this  the 
services  which  he  needed  to  much  greater  advantage  than 
when  he  rented  his  land  directly  for  services.  So  the  man 
who  had  services  to  sell  could  now  exchange  them  for 
money.  The  feudal  relationship  had  become  so  strongly 
intrenched  in  society  that  naturally  it  passed  out  of  use  very 
slowly,  but  the  specially  important  change  now  made  is  that 
it  became  no  longer  necessary.  The  purpose  which  it  had 
once  served  better  than  anything  else  was  now  still  better 
served  in  another  way. 

The  increased  use  of  money  also  affected  the  feudal  sys- 
tem as  decisively  on  its  political  side.  The  State  was  no 
longer  dependent  on  it  for  the  formation  of  its  army  or  for 
any  other  public  service.  The  government  could  now 
derive  an  income  in  money  from  a  regular  system  of  taxa- 
tion, and  with  the  money  thus  obtained  it  could  provide  an 
army,  more  effective  because  more  directly  and  completely 
under  its  control,  and  it  could  provide  in  the  same  way  for 
all  other  public  necessities.  In  England  the  king  had  be- 
gun to  take  money  from  his  vassals  in  place  of  their  military 
services  before  the  third  crusade,  and  from  the  beginning 
of  the  thirteenth  century  the  governments  of  the  different 
states  gradually  introduced  regular  taxation  and  made  them- 
selves independent  of  the  feudal  services. 

209.  The  Fall  of  the  Feudal  System.  —  Of  course  the 
natural  inclination  of  all-  sovereigns  was  to  develop  their 
governments  along  just  these  lines,  for  their  own  power  was 


§§2 io-2i i]        Institutions  of  the  Cities 


221 


in  this  way  very  greatly  enlarged  and  strengthened.  Thus 
in  all  ways,  by  the  natural  ambition  of  the  kings,  by  the 
demands  of  the  commercial  classes  for  security  and  uniform 
government,  by  the  destruction  of  its  economic  foundation, 
and  by  the  growing  financial  independence  of  the  State,  the 
feudal  system  was  attacked  and  gradually  destroyed  both  as 
a  political  and  as  an  economic  system.  In  two  ways  it  re- 
mained and  exerted  an  influence  on  later  times.  One  was 
as  a  system  of  land  law  by  which  the  ownership,  inheritance, 
and  sale  of  land  were  regulated.  The  other  was  in  the 
systems  of  nobilities  which  took  the  place  of  the  feudal 
baronage  in  all  the  European  countries.  The  titles,  legal 
distinctions,  social  privileges,  and  various  caste  regulations 
of  these  nobilities  were  based  on  feudal  usages,  though 
very  much  modified  from  the  earlier  days  when  they  were 
something  more  real  than  the  marks  of  mere  nobilities. 

2io.  Changes  affecting  the  Serf  Class.  —  Upon  the  serf 
class  these  economic  changes  had  as  great  an  effect  as  upon 
any  other.  The  growth  of  the  towns  offered  the  serf  a  place 
to  which  he  could  escape  from  the  hard  conditions  of  agri- 
cultural life.  The  rise  of  manufactures  gave  him  the  pos- 
sibility of  a  livelihood  by  which  he  could  support  himself. 
Soon  the  landlord  found  himself  forced  by  this  competition 
to  grant  them  better  and  better  terms  if  he  wished  to  retain 
his  laborers.  The  introduction  of  money  transformed,  for 
the  serf  as  well  as  for  the  vassal,  payments  of  services  into 
payments  of  money,  and  left  him  free  to  sell  his  services 
for  the  best  terms  he  could  make.  This  was  the  emanci- 
pation of  the  serf  and  his  transformation  into  a  free  laborer. 
Like  the  other,  it  was  a  slow  change,  and  was  only  completed 
in  the  Middle  Ages  in  a  few  of  the  more  advanced  regions 
of  the  West.  In  some  of  the  more  backward,  indeed,  it 
was  not  made  until  in  the  nineteenth  century. 

2ii.  Institutions  of  the  Cities.  —  In  the  cities  the  mer- 
cantile and  manufacturing  classes  were  universally  organized 
in  corporations  or  guilds,  somewhat  like  our  trades  unions. 
They  differed  radically  from  these,  however,  in  one  or  two 


The  perma- 
nent influ- 
ence of  the 
feudal 
system. 


Increased 
competition 
for  labor. 


In  what 
emancipa- 
tion con- 
sisted. 
Ashley, 
English 
Economic 
History,  I. 
19-33- 
The  guilds. 


222        Changes  which  followed  the  Crusades      [§211 

points.  Employers  and  workmen  were  members  together 
of  the  same  guild,  and  the  masters  or  employers  passed 
regularly  through  the  lower  grades  of  apprentice  and  jour- 
neyman before  reaching  the  higher  grade.  The  purpose 
of  the  guild  was  not  so  much  to  look  after  the  interests  of 


A    HANSEATIC  bHIP 


The  guilds 
governed  the 
towns. 


laborers  or  of  capitalists  in  their  conflict  with  one  another, 
—  labor  and  capital  were  closely  identified,  almost  in  the 
same  set  of  persons,  —  as  to  regulate  methods  of  manufac- 
ture, the  quality  of  goods,  and  prices,  and  other  conditions 
of  competition.  In  a  very  large  number  of  the  medieval 
towns,  these  guilds  were  the  governing  bodies,  electing  the 
aldermen  and  other  officers  of  the  city,  and  having  the  sole 


§2ii]  Institutions  of  the  Cities  223 

direction  of  its  affairs,  so  that  persons  desiring  the  right  of 
voting  or  taking  part  in  the  government  sought  the  privilege 
of  being  enrolled  in  some  one  of  these  guilds,  though  they 
might  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  trade  which  it  represented. 

In  some  countries,  where  the  government  did  not  prove  The  city 
strong  enough  to  reunite  the  State  after  the  period  of  divi-  leagues, 
sion  into  the  feudal  fragments,  especially  in  Germany,  the    Tke  ^an\a 
cities  sought  to  protect  their  interests  and  accomplish  the    Towns 
results  which  should  have  been  brought  about  by  the  gen-    (Nations)- 
eral   government,  by  means  of  unions  among   themselves. 
The  greatest   of  these  was   the    Hanseatic  League,  which 
almost  made  a  state  and  which  was  very  powerful  in  the 
north  of  Europe  for  several  generations. 


Topics 

What  was  the  intellectual  effect  of  the  crusades?  The  commercial? 
What  was  the  effect  upon  the  cities?  What  is  meant  by  the  third 
estate?  What  is  the  class  corresponding  to  the  third  estate  at  the 
present  time?  Why  was  the  third  estate  interested  in  the  formation  of 
strong  governments?  What  change  in  the  matter  of  law  did  it  assist 
in  bringing  about?  Why  does  more  money  come  into  circulation  at 
this  time?  What  effect  has  this  on  the  feudal  holding  of  land?  How 
does  it  affect  the  relation  of  the  State  to  feudalism?  The  beginning  of 
modern  taxation.  How  was  the  position  of  the  serf  affected  by  these 
changes?  In  what  did  the  emancipation  of  the  serf  consist?  The 
purposes  served  by  the  guilds.  The  city  leagues.  The  Hanseatic 
League.  Make  a  list  of  all  the  ways  in  which  the  feudal  system  was 
affected  in  this  age. 

Topics  for  Assigned  Studies 

The  medieval  towns,  chiefly  English.  Green,  Tozvn  Life  in  Fifteenth 
Century.  2  vols.  (Macmillan.)  Luchaire,  Les  Communes 
Francaises.  (Paris;  7.50  francs.)  Cunningham,  Growth  of  Eng- 
lish Industry  and  Commerce  (Cambridge  Press,  Macmillan),  I. 
197-214.  Green,  English  People,  I.  206-225.  Zimmern,  Hansa 
(Nations),  82-125;    Penn.  II.,  No.   1;    Stubbs,  82,  87,  164,307. 

The  English  guilds.  Gross,  Guild  Merchant  (Clarendon),  I.  106- 
126,  167-191.  Cunningham,  Industry  and  Cofnmerce,  I.  309-318. 
Ashley,  English  Economic  History  (Putnam),  I.  68-96.,  II., 
Chap.  II. 


CHAPTER  VII 


THE  FORMATION  OF  THE  FRENCH  NATION 


212.  General  Conditions  in  France.  —  In  the  various 
ways  which  have  just  been  described,  the  economic  cha 
which  followed  the  expansion  of  commerce  undermined  and 
weakened  the  feudal  system.  At  the  same  time  in  the  most 
fortunately  situated  countries  feudalism  was  exposed  to  a 
vigorous  attack  from  without.  The  time  had  now  come 
when  national  governments  could  be  formed,  and  their  ex- 
istence necessarily  meant  the  destruction  of  the  local  inde- 
pendence of  the  feudal  baron.  These  new  governments 
arose  first  of  all  in  France  and  England,  and  these  two 
countries  are  so  closely  connected  during  all  this  period  of 
the  Middle  Ages  that  their  history  is  almost  that  of  a  single 
state. 

We  have  seen  how  weak  the  first  Capetian  kings  were, 
and  how  little  their  authority  was  recognized  in  fact  by  the 
great  feudal  barons  who  divided  the  land  of  France  among 
themselves.  The  first  four  generations  of  the  Capetian  dy- 
nasty seem  to  have  been  able  to  do  no  more  than  to  secure 
possession  of  the  crown  for  their  family.  The  real  work 
of  making  the  French  government  and  forming  the  French 
nation  began  with  Louis  VI. 

In  the  first  two  hundred  years,  —  the  period  which  laid 
the  foundations  and  made  success  certain,  —  there  were 
four  kings  who  did  the  most  of  the  work,  whose  reigns 
accomplished  far  more  than  all  the  others  in  bringing  about 
the  final  result.  These  were  Louis  VI.,  Philip  II.,  Louis  IX.. 
and  Philip  IV.     During  the  reigns  of  the  other  kings  of  the 

224 


§§2i3,2i4]  The   Work  of  Louis    VI 


225 


period,  but  little  which  had  been  won  by  the  great  kings 
was  lost  even  if  but  little  was  done  to  advance  the  work. 

213.  Two  Great  Difficulties.  —  To  create  modern  France, 
these  early  Capetian  kings  had  two  very  difficult  things  to 
accomplish.  They  had  in  the  first  place  to  bring  the  terri- 
tory of  France  under  their  direct  rule ;  that  is,  to  recover  it 
from  the  possession  of  the  great  barons.  This  was  in  many 
cases  a  work  of  real  conquest  and  annexation,  so  inde- 
pendent were  many  of  the  feudal  lords,  and  it  was  made 
still  more  difficult  by  the  fact  that  one  of  these  barons,  the 
duke  of  Normandy,  was  also  king  of  England.  In  the 
second  place,  they  had  by  degrees  to  create  new  institutions 
of  government,  to  form  the  constitution  of  the  State,  as  their 
rule  was  gradually  extended  over  more  and  more  of  France. 
One  of  the  chief  reasons  why  the  government  of  France 
down  to  the  French  Revolution  was  an  absolute  monarchy 
is  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  the  work  of  making  the  con- 
stitution fell  to  the  kings  alone.  The  barons,  who  in  Eng- 
land had  so  much  to  do  in  forming  the  constitution,  were 
occupied  in  France  in  defending  their  own  independence 
against  the  king,  and  were  at  last  conquered  and  forced  to 
complete  submission. 

214.  The  Work  of  Louis  VI.  —  Louis  VI.  was  hardly  able 
to  do  more  than  to  mark  out  the  road  which  later  kings 
were  to  follow,  but  his  vigorous  opening  of  the  way  was  at 
the  time  a  great  advance.  His  greatest  actual  success  was 
in  reducing  the  minor  barons  of  his  own  feudal  state,  the 
duchy  of  France,  to  obedience,  so  that  its  resources  were 
entirely  at  the  command  of  later  kings.  He  asserted,  how- 
ever, the  superior  rights  of  the  sovereign  over  the  great  fiefs 
as  opportunity  served,  and  began  the  policy  so  long  followed 
of  taking  advantage  of  the  frequent  quarrels  in  the  English 
royal  family  and  of  trying  to  get  their  French  lands  into  the 
hands  of  some  one  who  was  not  at  the  same  time  king  of 
England. 

Just  at  the  end  of  his  reign  Louis  secured  a  great  oppor- 
tunity for  his  son  by  marrying  him  to  Eleanor,  the  heiress  of 
Q 


To  recover 
and  unite 
the  territory 
of  France. 


To  create  a 
government 
for  the 
nation. 


Louis  VI., 
1108-1137. 


Kitchin, 

France, 

I.  249-260 ; 

Tout, 

Periods, 

274-282 ; 

Adams, 

French 

Nation, 

73"78; 
Zeller,  IV. 


Eleanor, 
heiress  of 
Aquitaine. 


226  Formation  of  the  French  Nation    [§§  215,  216 


The 

dominions  of 
Henry  II.  of 
England. 
Green, 
Henry  II. 
(Macmillan), 
Chap.  II. 


Philip  II., 
1 1 80-1 223. 
Tout, 
Periods,  291- 

294. 393-405 ; 

Adams, 
French 
Nation, 
81-88 ; 
Zeller,  IV. 


the  duchy  of  Aquitaine,  the  largest  of  the  feudal  baronies 
of  France.  But  Louis  VII.  and  his  wife  did  not  get  on  well 
together.  He  lacked  the  energy  of  his  father,  and  Eleanor, 
who  was  masculine  in  character  and  lively  in  disposition, 
had  but  little  respect  for  him  and  took  no  pains  to  conceal 
the  fact.  Finally  Louis  divorced  her,  and  she  immediately 
married  Henry  of  Anjou,  who  shortly  became  King  Henry 
II.  of  England. 

215.  France  threatened  by  the  Angevin  Empire.  —  This 
marriage  made  the  dominions  of  Henry  almost  an  empire ; 
for  besides  the  whole  southwestern  quarter  of  France  which 
his  wife  brought  him,  he  held  also  the  northwestern  quarter, 
partly  from  his  father,  the  count  of  Anjou,  and  partly  from 
his  mother,  who  was  the  granddaughter  of  William  the  Con- 
queror. This  was  about  two-thirds  of  France  as  it  then 
existed,  and  it  was  more  than  six  times  the  territory  which 
Louis  VII.  had  under  his  direct  rule.  It  seemed  almost  as 
if  all  France  would  be  united  in  the  end  under  the  king  of 
England  and  the  two  nations  become  one.  This  would  not 
at  that  time  have  been  so  difficult  as  later,  because  the 
French  language  was  quite  generally  spoken  in  England  by 
the  higher  classes,  many  of  whom  looked  upon  themselves 
as  more  French  than  English. 

216.  The  First  Great  Advance. —  Against  this  danger  the 
next  king  of  France,  Philip  II.,  contended  most  vigorously. 
He  took  the  part  of  Henry's  sons  in  their  wars  upon  their 
father,  and  when  Richard  became  king,  of  John  against  him, 
and  then  of  Arthur  of  Brittany  against  John,  always  against 
the  reigning  king  of  England  whoever  he  might  be.  He 
gained  but  little  success,  except  to  prevent  the  growth  of 
the  English  power,  until  John  became  king.  Then  his 
opportunity  came.  John  was  not  lacking  in  ability  or 
courage,  but  he  was  careless,  and  selfishly  bent  on  his  own 
pleasures,  and  his  energy  only  flashes  up  at  intervals  into  a 
strong  defence  against  the  French  king's  attack.  His  cause 
was  a  bad  one,  for  he  had  committed  some  serious  offences 
against  the  feudal  law.    He  had  married  the  betrothed  bride 


y-^—^& 

N 

A      »v 

^OminoRCA 

/majorca 

E     8S 

^jOrihuela     SF0RM£NT£|U 

If    S    D     I      T 

JB    J? 

1 

"virtaget 

a 

liorma,  Sc  Co.,  «!..£. 


§216] 


First  Great  Advance 


227 


of  one  of  his  own  vassals,  and  had  refused  to  appear  at  the 
court  of  his  suzerain,  Philip,  to  answer  to  the  charges  made 
against  him  on  this  account.  So  the  court  had  decreed  the 
confiscation  of  his  French  fiefs,  and  Philip  was  executing 
this  sentence.  There  was  a  suspicion  also  that  John  had 
murdered  Arthur,  whom  he  had  taken  prisoner,  and  this  did 


Hutton, 
Philip 
Augustus 
(Macmillan), 
63-87. 

France  gains 
Normandy 
and  Anjou. 


Notre  Dame,  Paris 


not  help  his  cause,  though  it  never  has  been  proved  that 
Arthur  was  murdered.  Philip  was  entirely  successful,  and 
the  English  king  lost  all  his  lands  north  of  the  Loire.  This 
was  the  first  great  success  of  the  Capetian  kings  and  one  of 
the  greatest  in  their  history.  It  multiplied  the  territory  in 
their  hands  by  three  or  four  and  almost  made  the  kingdom 
of  France  a  reality. 


228 


Formation  of  the  French  Nation  [§217 


The  way  was  prepared  in  the  reign  of  Philip  II.  for  an- 
other great  annexation  in  southeastern  France  by  the  Albi- 
gensian  crusade,  though  these  lands  were  not  actually  added 
to  the  king's  domain  till  some  time  later.  The  Albigenses 
were  a  sect  accused  of  heresy,  and  they  certainly  held  some 
peculiar  religious  notions.  Theirs  was  the  first  great  re- 
bellion against  the  medieval  Church,  and  it  was  very  severely 
repressed.  The  pope  proclaimed  a  crusade  against  them ; 
that  is,  he  offered  the  same  spiritual  rewards  to  all  who 
would  go  to  make  war  upon  them  that  would  be  gained  by 
going  to  the  Holy  Land.  The  crusade  was  led  by  a  French 
baron,  Simon  de  Montfort,  the  father  of  Earl  Simon,  so  fa- 
mous in  English  history,  and  many  took  part  in  it,  while  the 
king  watched  it  from  a  distance,  conscious  no  doubt  that 
France  would  reap  the  greatest  advantage  in  the  end  from 
the  ruin  of  the  local  barons,  as  was  indeed  the  case. 

The  territory  of  France  had  expanded  so  greatly  under 
Philip  that  the  simple  machinery  of  earlier  times  no  longer 
sufficed  to  do  the  business  of  the  State,  and  a  beginning  of 
institutional  growth  was  made.  The  lands  under  the  rule 
of  the  king  were  divided  into  districts,  and  to  each  of  these 
an  officer  was  appointed  whose  duty  it  was  to  represent 
the  king,  to  look  after  his  interests,  and  to  see  that  his  law 
was  obeyed  by  all.  This  was  the  beginning  of  an  adminis- 
trative system  which  has  continued  with  some  slight  changes 
of  form  and  name  under  all  the  governments  which  France 
has  had  down  to  the  present  time. 

217.  The  King  begins  to  make  himself  Obeyed.  —  The 
reign  of  Philip's  son,  Louis  VIII.,  was  a  short  one,  and 
Louis  IX.  began  his  reign  with  a  long  minority.  An  attempt 
of  the  French  barons  with  the  help  of  the  English  king, 
Henry  III.,  to  undo  the  work  of  the  last  hundred  years  was 
a  failure,  and  Louis  found,  when  he  reached  his  majority, 
the  royal  power  undiminished.  He  is  known  in  history  as 
St.  Louis,  and  as  he  supremely  loved  justice  and  peace,  his 
canonization  was  deserved.  The  universal  confidence  of 
the  people  in  his  character  was  of  great  assistance  in  the 


§218] 


The  King  Supreme  in  France 


229 


chief  work  of  his  reign  —  the  suppression  of  private  war 
and  the  establishment  of  national  law  courts.  These  two 
rights  were  chief  among  those  which  marked  the  indepen- 
dence of  the  feudal  baron  —  the  right  of  making  war  at 
his  will  and  that  of  holding  a  court  from  which  there  was 
no  appeal  to  any  higher  court.  Both  these  rights  Louis 
attacked  and  greatly  limited  without  completely  destroying 
them.  Louis  also  continued  the  work  of  his  grandfather  by 
developing  the  administrative  machinery,  and  he  prepared 
the  way  for  that  of  his  grandson  by  beginning  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  national  finances. 

218.  The  King  becomes  the  Strongest  Power  in  France. 
—  The  grandson  of  Louis  who  continued  his  work,  was 
Philip  IV.,  the  Fair.  In  the  making  of  French  institutions 
his  reign  was  the  greatest  of  all.  By  its  close  the  monarchy 
was  the  strongest  power  in  France,  and  the  political  inde- 
pendence of  the  feudal  baron  was  practically  broken.  All 
parts  of  the  government  machine  shared  in  this  advance, 
while  the  chief  work  of  the  reign  was  to  complete  the 
organization  of  the  courts,  to  introduce  a  modern  system  of 
taxation  and  national  financial  machinery,  making  the  State 
independent  of  the  feudal  system  for  its  income,  and  to 
begin  a  national  legislature  by  the  addition  of  representa- 
tives of  the  third  estate,  the  cities  and  towns,  to  the  other 
two  estates,  creating  thus  the  Estates  General.  This  institu- 
tion contained  of  course  a  danger  for  the  monarchy  in  the 
possibility  that  it  might,  as  in  England,  bring  the  kings 
under  a  responsibility  to  itself  for  their  acts.  But  there 
never  came  a  time  when  the  Estates  General  were  able  to 
do  this.  The  kings  called  it  together  only  when  they  had 
need  of  it  for  their  own  purposes,  and  managed  to  keep  it 
almost  always  under  strict  control. 

Philip  IV.  had  thought  at  one  time  soon  after  the  begin- 
ning of  his  reign  that  the  time  had  come  to  complete  the 
conquest  of  the  English  lands  in  France,  and  he  had  brought 
on  a  war  with  King  Edward  I.,  but  he  soon  found  his 
hands  so  occupied  with  a  strife  with  Pope  Boniface  VIII. 


Philip  IV., 
1285-1314. 

Rapid  pro- 
gress in 
institution- 
making. 
Kitchin, 
France, 
I-354ff.; 
Adams, 
French 
Nation, 
95-103 ; 
Zeller.  V. 


An  attempt 
to  conquer 
southwestern 
France. 


230  Formation  of  the  French  Nation     [§§  219,  220 


over  the  question  whether  the  lands  of  the  Church  should 
be  subject  to  his  new  system  of  national  taxation,  and  also 
with  the  people  of  Flanders,  who  were  the  allies  of  the 
English  from  commercial  reasons,  that  he  was  obliged  to 
give  up  these  plans.  They  could  not  be  taken  up  again 
until  the  reign  of  Philip  VI.,  the  first  king  of  the  Valois 
family. 

219.  The  Salic  Law.  — Three  sons  of  Philip  IV.  had  suc- 
ceeded him  in  rapid  succession,  and  each  of  these  had  left 
at  his  death  no  son.  Under  these  circumstances  that  law 
of  succession  to  the  French  throne  was  adopted  which 
was  afterward  called  the  Salic  law,  according  to  which  the 
crown  could  not  descend  to  a  woman  nor  be  inherited 
through  a  woman.  On  the  death  of  Charles  IV.,  the  last 
son  of  Philip,  Edward  III.  of  England,  who  was  Philip's 
grandson,  laid  claim  to  the  throne,  but  the  French  nation 
applied  the  Salic  law  strictly,  as  it  was  natural  that  they 
should  against  the  king  of  England,  and  gave  the  crown  to 
Philip  of  Valois,  the  cousin  of  Charles  IV. 

220.  The  First  Period  of  the  Great  Struggle  with  Eng- 
land.—  There  were  grounds  in  plenty  on  which  to  renew 
the  conflict  with  England,  and  soon  after  his  accession 
Philip  opened  the  long  war  which  is  known  as  the  Hundred 
Years'  War.  Though  France  suffered  terribly  during  this 
period,  Philip  can  hardly  be  blamed  for  bringing  on  the 
war,  for  it  was  a  necessary  one  both  for  the  monarchy  and 
for  the  nation.  So  long  as  the  English  held  great  portions 
of  the  national  territory  there  could  be  no  permanent  peace, 
and  France  could  not  be  complete.  Soon  after  the  war 
opened  Edward  assumed  the  title  of  king  of  France, 
though  he  evidently  did  so  as  a  war  measure  and  with  no 
expectation  of  making  himself  actual  king. 

The  Hundred  Years'  War,  during  its  first  period,  is  one 
of  the  most  brilliant  and  interesting  wars  of  history,  the  last 
war  of  the  age  of  feudalism  and  chivalry,  now  rapidly  com- 
ing to  an  end.  It  was,  however,  entirely  indecisive  of  the 
real  question  at  issue.     The  English  gained  the  overwhelm- 


§  22 1 ]       Henry  VI.  becomes  King  of  France  231 

ing  victories  of  Cr£cy  and  Poitiers  against  great  odds  by  the 
use  of  the  terrible  long-bow,  and  they  captured  the  seaport 
of  Calais,  and  made  it  a  strong  fortress  to  protect  their  com- 
merce passing  through  the  Channel  from  the  French  priva- 
teers. France,  exhausted  by  the  English  invasions,  by  the 
Black  Death,  and  by  her  own  revolted  peasants,  with  her 
king,  John,  a  prisoner  in  London,  captured  in  the  battle  of  John, 
Poitiers,  did,  indeed,  agree  in  the  treaty  of  Bretigny  to  grant  i3?,0-1  y?' 
Guienne  in  full  sovereignty  to  Edward  in  return  for  his  sur- 
render of  the  title  of  king  of  France ;  but  the  treaty  was 
never  carried  out,  and  Charles  V.,  the  successor  of  John, 
after  careful  preparation,  renewed  the  war. 

Success  now  turned  to  the  French  side.     Their  cause  was   Charles  v., 
very  skilfully  managed,  allowing  no  advantage  to  the  Eng-   \\  _x  ^' 
lish,  but  taking  carefully  every  advantage  which  they  offered.   The  French 
Edward  III.  seems  to  have  lost  his  mind  in  his  old  age,  and  victorious, 
the  Black  Prince  was  suffering  from  the  disease  of  which  he   Kitchin, 
soon  died,  so  that  there  was  no  good  leadership  on  the  Eng-   Frandk, 

I«454~473; 

lish  side  to  match  that  on  the  French.     Slowly  they  were  Adams, 

driven  back  to  a  small  territory  near  the  sea,  but  the  great  French 

city  of  Bordeaux  with  the  lands  around  it  the  French  could      ail0n' 

1 19-125; 

not  yet  recover.     In  government  Charles  V.  was  as  skilful  Zeiier,  vil. 
as  in  war.     He  held  the  Estates  General  in  check,  and  laid 
the  foundations  of  royal  independence  in  taxation  and  in 
a  standing  army,  thus  advancing  greatly  the  French  absolute 
monarchy. 

221.   The  King  of  England  becomes  King  of  France. —  An  insane 

The  reign  of  Charles  V.  is  a  little  period  of  prosperity  in  king* 

France  between  two  long  periods  of  disaster  and  suffering.  C1^les  VI- 

His  son,  Charles  VI.,  was  insane   during  the  most  of  his  Kitchin, 

reign,  and  the  nation  was  divided  into  factions  contending  France, 

for  power  and  finally  fighting  with  one  another  in  open  civil  ZefleSr~vni  ■ 

war.     England,  during  the  same  time,  was  hardly  in  better  Monstreiet, 

condition,  and  the  war  between  the  two  countries  was  practi-  Chronicles, 

cally  suspended.     At  last  Henry  V.  came  to  the  throne  in  especiaHy 

England,  young  and  full  of  ambition,  and  he  was  tempted  Chaps, 

by  the  helpless  state  of  France  to  renew  the  war  and  to  36,  I46,  2IO< 


232  Formation  of  the  French  Nation    [§§  222,  223 


hope   that    he   might   really    make   himself   king  of   that 
country. 

Everything  went  at  first  in  his  favor.  He  won  the  great 
victory  of  Agincourt,  which  was  almost  a  repetition  of  those 
of  Cr£cy  and  Poitiers ;  he  occupied  the  whole  northern  and 
southwestern  parts  of  France,  including  Paris.  The  duke 
of  Burgundy,  one  of  the  most  powerful  princes  of  the  time, 
went  over  to  his  side,  partly  because  his  father  had  been 
murdered  by  the  leaders  of  the  opposite  faction,  the  Or- 
leanist,  and  partly  because  the  commercial  connection  be- 
tween England  and  Flanders,  which  was  now  under  his  rule, 
was  still  so  strong ;  and  finally  the  court  party,  the  queen 
acting  in  the  name  of  the  insane  king,  recognized  his  right 
to  the  throne  in  succession  to  Charles  VI.  Henry  died 
before  Charles,  but  his  son,  Henry  VI.,  was  crowned  king 
of  France  in  Paris.  The  English  soon  after  laid  siege  to 
Orleans,  and,  if  it  should  fall,  apparently  all  France  would 
be  theirs,  and  Charles  VII.,  the  rightful  king,  would  be 
forced  to  seek  refuge  abroad. 

222.  Joan  of  Arc.  —  At  this  moment  appeared  Joan  of 
Arc,  a  simple  country  girl,  who  was  fully  persuaded  that 
she  was  called  by  divine  voices,  which  had  spoken  to  her 
in  visions,  to  drive  out  the  enemies  of  France.  Her  un- 
wavering belief  in  herself  and  her  inspired  mission  restored 
to  the  French  soldiers  and  nation  the  confidence  they  had 
lost.  The  tide  began  to  turn  against  the  English.  The 
siege  of  Orleans  was  raised.  The  way  was  opened  for  the 
crowning  of  Charles  VII.  in  the  city  of  Rheims,  where 
the  French  kings  had  always  been  crowned.  With  this 
event  the  real  work  of  Joan  —  the  arousing  of  a  national 
enthusiasm  and  the  restoration  of  confidence  to  the  French 
—  was  finished ;  but  very  soon  after,  when  she  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  English,  they  foolishly  did  all  that  they  could 
to  make  her  leadership  permanent  by  making  her  a  martyr. 
for  they  burned  her  at  the  stake. 

223.  The  Final  Triumph  of  France.  —  Nothing  which  the 
English   could   do  after  this  checked   the  advance  of  the 


§224] 


Lords  XL  and  Charles  the  Bold 


233 


French.  Charles  VII.  followed  the  methods  of  his  grand- 
father, Charles  V.,  in  conducting  the  war,  and  refused  to 
allow  the  English  any  advantage  in  the  field.  The  sym- 
pathies of  the  French  people  behind  the  English  lines  were 
always  with  the  cause  of  their  own  nation,  and  they  gave 
it  every  assistance  possible.  Finally  the  duke  of  Burgundy 
abandoned  the  English  side  and  took  up  the  cause  of 
France.  The  leaders  of  the  English  did  as  well  as  they 
could  with  a  hopeless  cause,  but  step  by  step  they  were 
driven  back,  till  soon  after  the  middle  of  the  century  all 
that  they  had  ever  held  in  France  was  lost,  except  the 
very  strong  fortress  of  Calais,  which  for  another  century 
continued  to  defend  the  commerce  of  England  passing 
through  the  Channel. 

Thus  ended  the  long  struggle  which  for  350  years  the 
PYench  kings  had  renewed  in  almost  every  generation  to  ex- 
pel the  kings  of  England  from  the  territories  of  France,  and 
thus  was  almost  completed  also  the  geographical  formation 
of  France,  as  it  existed  at  the  beginning  of  modern  history. 
Three  considerable  provinces  yet  remained  to  be  annexed, 
Burgundy,  Provence,  and  Brittany,  but  these  were  all  joined 
to  France  before  the  fifteenth  century  closed. 

In  the  conduct  of  the  government  as  in  that  of  the  war, 
Charles  VII.  followed  the  policy  of  Charles  V.  His  reign 
completed  the  absolute  monarchy,  freed  the  king  from  all 
outside  control,  and  reduced  almost  to  a  form  the  national 
legislature,  the  Estates  General,  which  scarcely  ever  meet 
again  in  French  history  except  in  times  of  civil  strife  and 
disorder. 

224.  Louis  XI.  and  Charles  the  Bold.  —  Louis  XL  con- 
tinued the  policy  of  his  father  with  even  greater  skill  and  by 
the  methods  of  a  cunning  and  unprincipled  diplomacy.  A 
combination  of  the  princes  and  great  nobles,  formed  to  over- 
throw if  possible  the  absolute  power  of  the  king,  he  broke 
up  and  defeated.  The  plans  also  of  the  dukes  of  Burgundy 
to  create  a  strong  middle  kingdom  between  France  and 
Germany  ended  in  failure  in  his  reign.     The  duke  Charles 


Charles  VII., 
1422-1461. 
Masson, 
Mediceval 
France 
(Nations), 
Chap.  XIII.; 
Zeller,  IX. 


The  geo- 
graphical 
completion 
of  France. 
Kitchin, 
France,  II. 
8-15. 


The  absolute 
monarchy 
also  com- 
pleted. 
Adams, 
French 
Nation, 
I33-I35- 

Louis  XI., 

1461-1483. 

Masson, 

Mediceval 

France, 

Chap.  XIV. 

Kitchin, 
France,  II. 
53-86,  with 
map; 


234 


Formation  of  the  French  Nation  [§  224 


the  Bold  was  defeated  by  the  brave  mountaineers  of  Switzer- 
land and  then  slain  in  battle  in  an  attempt  to  conquer  Lor- 
raine. At  once  Louis  seized  upon  the  duchy  of  Burgundy 
as  a  vacant  fief  of  the  crown,  and  he  was  strong  enough  to 
retain  it,  though  Mary  of  Burgundy  kept  possession  of  Flan- 
ders and  the  other  territories  of  her  father  and  carried  them 
to  the  house  of  Austria  by  her  marriage  with  Maximilian  I. 
With  the  next  reign,  that  of  Charles  VIIL,  France  passes 
into  the  current  of  a  new  age,  the  age  of  transition  to  mod- 
ern history. 


Topics 

What  was  the  situation  of  the  first  Capetian  kings  in  France  ?  What 
was  the  task  before  them  and  what  were  its  especial  difficulties  ?  I  low 
much  was  accomplished  by  Louis  VI.  ?  Of  what  territories  was  Eleanor 
heiress  ?  What  led  to  her  marriage  with  Henry  II.  ?  The  effect  of 
this  marriage  on  the  position  of  the  Capetians  in  France.  The  policy 
of  Philip  II.  against  the  English.  What  gave  him  his  opportunity  and 
what  did  he  gain  from  it  ?  What  did  France  gain  from  the  Albigensian 
crusade  ?  Why  was  this  a  crusade  ?  The  institutional  beginning  under 
Philip  II.  Why  was  Louis  IX.  rightly  canonized  ?  How  did  he 
strengthen  the  royal  power  ?  What  new  institutions  under  Philip  IV.  ? 
Why  could  he  not  push  the  conquest  of  the  English  lands  ?  The 
"Salic  law."  What  reasons  had  Philip  VI.  for  beginning  the  Hun- 
dred Years'  War  ?  The  character  of  the  first  period  of  the  war.  The 
treaty  of  Bretigny.  The  policy  and  successes  of  Charles  V.  The  con- 
dition of  France  under  Charles  VI.  Why  was  Henry  V.  able  so  nearly 
to  conquer  France  ?  The  situation  when  Joan  of  Arc  appeared.  What 
did  she  do  for  the  French  ?  The  result  of  the  war.  How  nearly  was 
France  now  completed  geographically  ?  How  nearly  was  France  an 
absolute  monarchy  ?  The  plans  of  Charles  the  Bold.  What  became 
of  his  lands  ? 

Topics  for  Assigned  Studies 

The  long-bow.  Oman,  Art  of  War,  Books  VII.,  VIII.  Archery 
(Badminton  Library;  Longmans),  105-120.  Social  England,  II. 
172-174.     Doyle,  The  White  Company  (novel). 

The  battles  of  Crecy  and  Poitiers.  Oman,  Art  of  War,  600-615,  625- 
634.  Warburton,  Edzvard  I/I.,  101-112,  154-162.  Green,  Eng- 
lish People,  I.  416  ff.     In  Froissart's  Chronicles,  Book  I. 


The  Capetian  Kings  of  France 


235 


The  Capetian  Kings  of  France 


Hugh  Capet,  987. 

Robert,  996. 

I 
Henry  I.,  1031. 

Philip  I.,  1060. 

Louis  VI.,  1 108. 

Louis  VII.,  1 137. 

Philip  II.,  1 1 80. 

I 
Louis  VIII.,  1223. 

I 
Louis  IX.,  1226. 

I 
Philip  III.,  1270. 


I 

Philip  IV.,  1285. 

I . 

I 1 i  1 

Louis  X.,   Philip  V.,   Charles  IV.,    Isabella. 
1314.  1316.  1322.  I 

Edward  III. 
of  England. 


Charles  of  Valois. 

I 
Philip  VI.,  1328. 

John,  1350. 

Charles  V.,  1364. 

I 
Charles  VI.,  1380. 

Charles  VII.,  1422. 

I 
Louis  XL,  1461. 

Charles  VIIL,  1483. 


CHAPTER   VIII 

ENGLAND 

Books  for  Reference  and  Further  Reading 

Stubbs,  Constitutional  History  of  England.  3  vols.  (Clarendon; 
$2.60  each.)     Also  full  on  the  political  history. 

Round,  Feudal  England.  <(Lond.,  Sonnenschein  ;  12s.  6d.)  — Geoffrey 
de  Mandeville.  (Longmans;  55.00.)  Critical  studies  on  the  Nor- 
man period. 

Norgate,  England  under  the  Angevin  /Tings.     2  vols.     (Macmillan; 

$5-°°0 
Wylie,  History  of  England  under  Henry  IV.     4  vols.     (Longmans  ; 

$20.50.)    Very  detailed  study  of  the  first  Lancastrian. 
Ramsay,  Lancaster   and    York.     2  vols.     (Clarendon;    $9.00.)     The 

fifteenth   century.     Very  fully   and   carefully  studied,    especially 

military  affairs. 
The  Paston  Letters.   Edition  of  Gardiner.    3  vols.  (Macmillan;  £6.00.) 

Edition  of  Fenn.     (Bohn.)     Very  interesting  pictures  of  life  at 

about  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century. 
Gardiner,   Atlas  of  English   History.     (Longmans;    $1.50.)     A  very 

helpful  little  atlas. 
'  >n  all  points  of  English  history  constant  reference  should  be  made 
to  the  articles  in  the  Dictionary  of  National  Biography  (Macmillan, 
$3.75  per  volume),  many  of  which  contain  the  best  accounts  we  now 
have  of  their  portions  of  the  history. 


A  contrast  to 
French 
history. 
Adams, 

Civilization, 
188,  339  ff. 


225.  General  Character  of  English  History. —  English  his- 
tory follows  a  very  different  course  from  that  of  France. 
The  government  which  had  been  established  by  the  Norman 
conquest  was  a  strong  and  powerful  monarchy.  All  the  land 
of  England  was  subject  to  it,  and  the  feudal  barons  had  no 
independent  political  rights.  Geographically  while  the  Ca- 
petian  kings  were  creating  France,  the  kings  of  England 
were  losing  their  French  territories,  and  were  extending  their 

236 


§§  226,  227]     Henry  II.  Abroad  and  at  Home         237 

rule  over  Wales  and  into  Ireland,  and  were  trying  to  do  the 
same  in  Scotland.  In  the  growth  of  the  English  constitu- 
tion, also,  the  process  was  in  contrast  to  that  in  France,  for 
instead  of  growing  more  absolute  the  English  kings  were 

growing  less  so,  and  the  new  government  machinery  which  The  forming 

was  coming  into  use  was  placing  all  the  time  more  and  more  of  a  free 

-..-•.,                  .         „    ,     .        .„       _„  .                .  government. 

limitations  on  the  exercise  of  their  will.  This  constitutional 
side  of  English  history  is,  however,  so  important  for  us  be- 
cause it  is  the  constitution  we  have  inherited,  that  we  shall 
study  it  by  itself. 

226.  Period  of  the  Norman  Kings.  —  William   the  Con-  Thedis- 
queror  had  been  followed  as  king  of  England  by  two  of  his  °rdej"s  °f 
sons  in  succession,  William  II.  and  Henry  I.,  and  both  had  reign, 
ruled  as  very  strong  kings.     Henry  I.  left  no  son,  and  he  II35~II54- 
had  pledged  the  English  barons  to  accept  his  daughter  Ma-  ^oVicies  in 
tilda  as  their  sovereign,  but  on  his  death  her  cousin  Stephen,  Bohn : 
who  was  a  brilliant  and  popular  young  man,  persuaded  them  William  of 
to  place  him  on  the  throne  instead.     He  proved  to  be  a  -^TTeTs.  ury' 
very  weak  king,  and  during  his  reign  there  were  great  dis-  Henry  of 
orders  in  England,  partly  because  the  king  could  not  control  Huntingdon- 
the  turbulent  barons,  and  partly  because  Matilda  and  her  Rogerde 
party  were  continually  trying  to  get  the  throne  away  from  Hoveden,  I. 
him.     Matilda  had  married  Geoffrey,  count  of  Anjou,  and  ??67^54' 
finally  their  son  Henry,  who  had  invaded  England,  entered  piantagenets 
into  a  treaty  by  which  Stephen  was  to  remain  king  as  long  as  (Epochs), 
he  should  live  and  on  his  death  Henry  was  to  succeed  him.  lap' 

227.  Henry   II.   Abroad   and   at  Home.  —  Within   a  few  Henry  11., 
months  Stephen  died,  and  Henry  of  Anjou  became  Henry  II.  "54-"89- 

_  _      .        F                    '     ,      . ,     ,  '               J  .                 .                 J .  Documents 

01  England.     He  ruled  wide  lands  on  the  continent,  as  has  on  the  judi- 

been  described  in  connection  with  French  history,  but  his  cial  reforms, 

real  power  was  much  less  than  it  seemed,  for  the  French  m  S!jlbbs; 

135  ff-,  258; 

barons  were  turbulent  and  hard  to  control,  and  in  the  last  penn.  I., 

part  of  his  reign  his  wife  and  his  sons  were  continually  at  No-  6'>  Hen_ 

war  with  him,  so  that  none  of  his  plans  for  the  extension  of  T1_20' 

his  power  in  France  was  successful.     In  England  his  chief 

work  was  to  institute  a  system  of  king's  or  national  courts  with 

judges  going  about  from  county  to  county  both  to  try  cases 


238 


England 


[§227 


St.  Thomas 
of  Canter- 
bury. 

Hutton,  St. 
Thomas  of 
Canterbury 
(Contempo- 
raries). 


and  to  hold  the 
sheriffs  to  their 
duties  as  the  ad- 
ministrative and 
financial  officers 
of  the  State. 
This  led  him  to 
try  to  limit  the 
independence 
of  the  Church 
courts  and 
brought  on  a 
quarrel  with  his 
former  friend 
Thomas  Becket, 
archbishop  of 
Canterbury. 
Angry  words 
which  he  spoke 
in  a  moment  of 
passion  led  to 
the  murder  of 
the  archbishop, 
and  Henry  was 
forced  by  popu- 
lar feeling  to 
yield  something 
of  his  demands, 
but  the  organi- 
zation which  he 
gave  to  the  law 
courts  of  the 
State  is  still  to 
be  seen  in  our 
judicial  system. 
and  several  of  the  judicial  institutions  whose  growth  he 
encouraged,  like  the  jury,  we  have  still  in  use. 


Canterbury  Cathedral 


§§   228,  229] 


Henry  s   Tzuo  Sons 


239 


228.  England  and  Ireland. — The  English  claim  to  rule 
Ireland  dates  from  the  reign  of  Henry  II.  The  island  was 
at  this  time  in  a  very  backward  condition  both  in  civilization 
and  in  religion,  and  the  popes  were  anxious  to  bring  the 
Irish  Church  into  better  order  if  possible.  Almost  at  the 
beginning  of  Henry's  reign  Pope  Adrian  IV.  is  said  to  have 
issued  a  bull  giving  Henry  the  right  to  enter  Ireland  and 
take  possession  of  it,  based  on  the  claim  of  the  popes  to  all 
islands.  It  was  many  years  before  Henry  found  opportunity 
to  go  himself  to  the  island,  but  Norman  barons  had  begun 
to  go  over  earlier  and  to  enter  into  alliances  with  the  native 
chiefs,  and  in  this  way  to  form  little  principalities  for  them- 
selves. It  was  probably  this  fact  more  than  any  other  which 
finally  determined  Henry  to  cross  into  Ireland.  He  received 
the  submission  of  the  Normans  and  of  some  of  the  native 
chiefs,  and  began  the  reform  of  the  Church,  but  his  stay  was 
very  short,  and  all  that  he  did  amounted  to  no  more  than  to 
establish  a  claim  which  future  conquest  might  make  a  reality. 

229.  Henry's  Two  Sons. — Two  of  Henry's  sons,  Richard 
and  John,  reigned  after  him  and  were  both  very  bad  kings. 
Richard  had  little  interest  in  England  as  compared  with  the 
crusade  or  with  the  more  exciting  feudal  life  of  his  French 
possessions.  England  was  of  use  to  him  mainly  as  a  place 
from  which  to  draw  money,  and  he  did  not  hesitate  to  sell 
for  cash  almost  any  valuable  right,  among  others  the  claim 
of  the  English  kings  to  the  overlordship  of  Scotland  which 
had  come  down  from  Anglo-Saxon  times. 

John's  government  led  to  more  open  opposition  because 
he  was  himself  more  openly  tyrannical.  The  increasing  ex- 
penses of  the  State  forced  him  to  try  to  provide  a  secure 
national  income,  that  is,  to  begin  a  system  of  regular  taxation, 
and  this  could  not  be  done  without  a  violation  of  some  of 
the  fundamental  principles  of  the  feudal  law.  The  angry 
barons  found  an  ally  in  the  most  powerful  of  the  popes, 
Innocent  III.,  who  made  an  issue  with  the  king  over  the 
right  of  appointment  to  the  archbishopric  of  Canterbury. 
Finally,  to  avoid  the  consequences  of  yielding  in  England, 


The  begin- 
ning of  the 
occupation 
of  Ireland. 
Green, 
Henry  II., 
Chap.  VIII.; 
Green, 
English 
People,  I. 
175-178. 

Adrian's 
bull, 

Henderson, 
p.  10; 
Barnard, 
Strongbow's 
Conquest  of 
Ireland 
(Contempo- 
raries). 


Richard  I., 
1 1 89-1 199. 
Stubbs, 
Plantagenets, 
Chap.  VI. ; 
chronicles  in 
Bohn;  Scott, 
Ivanhoe 
(novel). 


John, 

1199-1216. 

Stubbs, 

Plantagenets, 

Chap.  VII.; 

chronicles 

in  Bohn; 

Shakspere, 

King  John 

(drama). 

John's  grant 
to  the  pope. 


240 


England 


[§230 


Gee  and 
Hardy,  75 ; 
Henderson, 
430;  Stubbs, 
284. 

Forced  to 
sign  the 
Magna 
Charta. 
Roger  of 
Wendover 
(Bohn),  II. 
303-324- 


Edward  I., 
1272-1307. 
Legislation, 
Tout, 
Edward  I. 
(Macmillan), 
Chap.  VII.; 
Social  Eng- 
land, II. 
32-38; 
Stubbs,  457, 
469.  478 ; 
Henderson, 
148  ff. 

The  con- 
quest of 
Wales. 
Tout, 

Edward  I., 
Chap.  VI. 

The  con- 
quest of 
Scotland. 
Tout, 

Edward  /., 
Chaps.  X. 
and  XII.; 
Stubbs, 
Plantagenets, 
Chap.  XI. ; 
Green, 
English 
People,  I. 


John  gave  up  to  the  pope  and  became  his  vassal  for  the  king- 
dom of  England,  one  of  the  most  signal  triumphs  of  the 
papacy  in  the  field  of  its  political  claims.  But  the  advantage 
which  John  gained  from  this  step  was  only  temporary.  The 
great  plan  which  he  formed  to  recover  the  lands  which  he 
had  lost  in  France  and  to  overcome  all  his  enemies  in  alli- 
ance with  Flanders  and  with  his  nephew,  the  Guelf  em- 
peror Otto  IV.,  was  defeated  by  the  great  victory  of  Philip 
II.  in  the  battle  of  Bouvines,  and  John  was  soon  forced  by 
the  barons  of  England  to  sign  the  Magna  Charta,  the  be- 
ginning of  the  conscious  growth  of  the  English  limited 
monarch} 

230.  T\ji  Greatest  of  the  Angevin  Kings.  —  Henry  III. 
was  a  weak  king,  greatly  under  the  influence  of  favorites, 
and  his  long  reign  was  full  of  civil  strife,  of  importance 
chiefly  in  the  constitutional  history  of  England.  His  son, 
Edward  I.,  in  marked  contrast  to  Henry,  was  one  of  the 
greatest  of  English  kings.  He  was  as  much  a  lawyer's  king 
as  his  contemporary  Philip  IV.  of  France,  and  has  been 
called  the  English  Justinian,  but  in  the  political  history  of 
England  he  ranks  as  conquering  king.  In  the  first  part  of 
his  reign  the  conquest  of  Wales,  which  had  long  been  linger- 
ing, was  at  last  completed  and  the  country  brought  finally 
under  English  rule  and  law.  As  an  honor  to  his  new  sub- 
jects, Edward's  son  Edward  was  made  the  first  Prince  of 
Wales. 

The  conquest  of  Scotland,  which  Edward  later  undertook, 
was  not  so  easy  a  matter.  A  disputed  succession  there  gave 
him  an  opportunity  to  interfere  and  to  reassert  the  over- 
lordship  of  the  English  kings,  and  when  he  attempted  to 
make  his  supremacy  a  real  one,  even  Balliol,  whom  he  had 
made  king,  turned  against  him.  Edward's  armies  were 
victorious  in  the  field,  but  the  conquest  of  the  people 
another  matter.  Wallace,  whom  Scotland  afterward  ideal- 
ized and  turned  into  a  national  hero,  made  a  brave  defence, 
but  one  marked  by  all  the  horrors  of  savage  warfare,  and 
Bruce,  the  national  candidate  for  the  throne,  though  for  a 


§  230]       The  Greatest  of  the  Angevin  Kings         241 

long  time  on  the  side  of  Edward,  at  last   took   the   lead  341  ff., 

against  the  invader.     At  one  time  it  seemed  as  if  Edward  3%e'l  ^af 

0  _  well,  Robert 

had  incorporated  Scotland,  as  well  as  Wales,  into  England,  the  Bruce 

but  just  before  his   death   a  new   insurrection   of  Bruce's  (Heroes), 

called  him  into  the  field.  Matthew  of 


The  Tower  of  London 


The  king  of  the  next  generation,  Edward  II.,  displayed  Westminster 

all  the  weak  and  bad  traits  of  the  Angevin  family.     He  lost  (Bohn),  II. 

all  that  his  father  had  gained,  wasted  the  revenues  of  the  Lf"*7It 

State,  and  allowed  his  favorites  to  govern  as  they  would  in  1307-1327. " 

his  place  and  to  enrich  themselves.     In  the  end  his  wife  Marlowe, 


242 


England 


[§§  231,  232 


Edward  II. 
(drama). 

Edward  III., 
I327-I377. 
A  brilliant 
age. 

Warburton, 
Edward  III. 
(Epochs) ; 
Ward,  Life 
of  Chaucer 
(Harper)  ; 
Social 

England,  II. 
202-231 ; 
Chaucer's 
Prologue 
(Clarendon); 
Ashley, 
Edward  III. 
ami  his 
Wars 

(Contempo- 
raries). 

A  rapid 
decline. 


Skeat,  Piers 
the  Plowman 
(Claren- 
don) ;  Smith, 
Troublous 
Days  of 
Richard  II. 
(Contempo- 
raries). 


Henry  V., 
1413-1422. 
Church, 
Henry  V. 
(Macmil- 
lan) ;   Gaird- 
ner,  Lancas- 
ter and  York 


joined  the  opposition  to  him  and  he  was  forced  to  yield  the 
throne  to  his  son,  Edward  III. 

231.  The  Hundred  Years'  War. — Nearly  all  the  reign  of 
Edward  III.  was  filled  with  the  great  Hundred  Years'  War 
with  France,  of  which  we  have  had  the  story  elsewhere. 
It  was  for  a  time  the  most  brilliant  age  that  England  had 
seen.  The  surprising  victories  which  were  won  in  France 
and  Scotland  and  other  successes  wakened  a  new  national 
pride  and  enthusiasm  ;  many  were  enriched  by  the  plunder 
brought  home  from  abroad ;  there  was  also  much  commer- 
cial activity;  and  life  was  easy  and  bright.  This  reflects 
itself  in  the  first  great  age  of  English  literature,  especially  in 
the  poems  of  Chaucer,  which  give  us  such  interesting  pic- 
tures of  English  life  in  this  age,  filled  with  the  spirit  of  the 
genial  poet  who  had  such  an  intense  enjoyment  of  life  in 
the  world  and  of  the  world  itself. 

But  the  last  part  of  Edward's  reign  was  clouded  with 
many  misfortunes.  England  suffered  from  the  Black  Death 
as  severely  as  France,  and  the  peasants  here  also,  believing 
that  they  were  wrongfully  oppressed  by  the  land-owners, 
took  arms  and  tried  to  better  their  condition  in  a  hopeless 
civil  war  which  is  known  as  Wat  Tyler's  insurrection.  Lang- 
land's  poems,  contemporary  with  Chaucer's  but  seeing 
rather  the  hard  side  of  life,  give  us  many  pictures  of  the 
wretched  condition  of  the  lower  classes.  At  the  same  time 
the  English  arms  abroad  were  meeting  with  constant  ill-for- 
tune from  the  new  military  methods  of  Charles  V.  of  France. 
The  next  generation  under  Edward's  grandson,  Richard  II., 
is  one  of  party  strife  and  revolution,  mainly  of  interest  in 
the  history  of  the  English  constitution,  and  it  resulted  in  the 
accession  of  the  house  of  Lancaster  to  the  throne. 

232.  The  House  of  Lancaster.  — With  the  second  Lancas- 
trian king,  Henry  V.,  a  young  and  ambitious  sovereign  be- 
gan to  reign,  who  could  not  resist  the  temptation  which 
divided  and  distracted  France  offered,  and  he  invaded  that 
unhappy  country  apparently  with  the  full  intention  of  mak- 
ing himself  its  king.     This  war  fills  his  reign  and  almost  the 


§232] 


The  House  of  Lancaster 


243 


whole  of  that  of  his  son,  Henry  VI.,  and  ended  at  last,  as  it  (Epochs), 

deserved  to,  in  failure  and  the  loss  of  the  lands  in  France  £JaP*v*;, 

'  Shakspere  s 

which  the  English  kings  had  held  so  long.  plays  on  the 

Henry  VI.  was  weak  in  mind  —  he  was  the  grandson  of  whole 

Charles  VI.  of  France  — and  not  able  to  rule  the  State  with  penod- 

a  strong  hand.     The   long   course   of  disasters  in  France, 


The  Great  Seal  of  England 


which  no  one  seemed  able  to  check,  gave  rise  to  much 
popular  dissatisfaction  with  the  government  and  made  it 
easy  to  form  a  strong  opposition  party.  The  king's  uncle, 
the  duke  of  Gloucester,  was  a  man  of  selfish  ambition,  dis- 
appointed because  he  did  not  possess  the  power  in  the  State 
which  he  thought  he  ought  to  have,  and  he  did  not  hesitate 
to  make  himself  the  leader  of  the  discontented  party.  The 
strife  between  this  opposition  party  and  the  government  grew 


Henry  VI., 
1422-1461. 


Social  Eng- 
land, II. 
302  ff. ; 
Gairdner, 
Lancaster 


244 


England 


\%^l 


and  York, 

134-159; 
Green, 

English 
People,  I. 
547  ff-,  559  ff. 


The  charac- 
ter of  the 
war. 

Gairdner, 
Lancaster 
and  York, 
161  ff. ; 
Ramsay, 
Lancaster 
and  York; 
Thompson, 
Wars  of 
)  'ork  and 
Lancaster 
(Contempo- 
raries). 

The  Yorkist 
kings. 
Stevenson, 
The  Black 
Arrow  ; 
Church, 
Chantry, 
Priest  of 
Barnet, 
Bulwer,  Last 
of  the 
Barons 
(novels). 

Boswoith 
Field,  1485. 


more  and  more  bitter  as  time  went  on.  On  the  death  of 
the  duke  of  Gloucester,  his  place  as  leader  was  taken  by 
the  duke  of  York,  whose  title  by  descent  to  the  throne  was 
better  than  that  of  the  king.  Soon  the  strife  became  one 
for  the  control  of  the  government,  for  the  king's  mind  was 
gone,  and  it  rapidly  passed  into  actual  civil  war. 

233.  The  Wars  of  the  Roses.  —  This  was  the  beginning 
of  the  Wars  of  the  Roses,  between  the  houses  of  York  and 
Lancaster,  though  the  duke  of  York  did  not  advance  his 
claim  to  the  throne  until  after  the  opening  battles  of  the 
war  had  been  fought.  At  first  Parliament  refused  to  enter- 
tain his  claim,  but  after  his  death  his  son  boldly  proclaimed 
himself  king  as  Edward  IV.  The  civil  war  which  followed 
was  a  war  of  the  nobles  and  their  retainers.  The  nation 
at  large  had  comparatively  little  interest  in  it,  and  though 
there  was  unusual  slaughter  of  the  leaders,  quarter  not  often 
being  given,  the  general  suffering  and  destruction  of  property 
was  not  great. 

Edward  IV.  was  a  vigorous  and  able  king  who  ruled  with 
a  strong  hand,  as  was  mYbrother,  Richard  III.,  who  obtaine  I 
the  crown  by  putting  his  nephews  out  of  the  way.  All  the 
princes  of  the  hoW  of  Lancaster  had  now  been  killed 
except  the  young  Henry  Tudor,  earl  of  Richmond,  who  had 
been  sent  to  France  for  safety  when  a  boy.  There  he 
waited  for  his  opportunity,  which  came  with  the  growing 
unpopularity  of  Richard.  When  he  knew  that  the  time  was 
ripe  in  England  he  landed  with  a  small  force,  was  soon 
joined  by  many  opposed  to  the  king,  and  advancing  to  meet 
Richard  won  the  decisive  battle  of  Bosworth  Field,  in  which 
Richard  was  killed,  and  was  at  once  recognized  as  King 
Henry  VII. 


Topics  245 


Topics 

Compare  the  general  course  of  English  history  with  that  of  France. 
The  character  of  Stephen's  reign.  What  things  hampered  the  plans 
of  Henry  II.  abroad?  His  chief  work  at  home.  The  quarrel  with 
Archbishop  Thomas.  The  beginning  of  English  rule  in  Ireland.  The 
character  of  Henry's  sons.  Why  did  John  become  the  vassal  of  the 
pope?  What  events  in  England  followed  the  battle  of  Bouvines? 
What  conquests  were  made  by  Edward  I.?  How  was  Scotland  lost? 
The  character  of  the  first  part  of  Edward  III.'s  reign.  Of  the  second 
part.  How  did  the  house  of  Lancaster  gain  the  throne?  How  did 
party  strife  begin  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VI.?  How  did  this  lead  to 
the  Wars  of  the  Roses?  The  character  of  this  war.  The  government 
of  the  Yorkist  kings.     The  accession  of  Henry  VII. 


Topics  for  Assigned  Studies 

ThomasNA  Becket.  Green,  Henry  II,  Chap.  VII.  Stubbs,  Plantage- 
nets,  >Chap.  IV.  Green,  English  People,  I.  164-170.  Froude, 
Thoma\a  Becket.  (Longmans;  6  sh.)  Freeman,  Historical 
Essays,  IL  Roger  de  Hoveden  (Bohn),  I.  335-341.  Roger  of 
Wendover\Bohn),  II.  15-19.  Documents  in  Stubbs,  135  ff.  Gee 
and  Hardy,  68  ff.     Henderson,  11  ff.     Penn.  I.,  No.  6. 

The  Black  Death  and  its  effects.  Jessopp,  in  the  Coming  of  the  Friars. 
(Putnam.)  Social  England,  II.  133-146.  Rogers'  Six  Centuries 
of  Work  and  Wages  (Putnam),  Chaps.  VIII.  and  IX.  Sergeant, 
Wyclif  (Heroes),  Chap.  XV.  The  Statute  of  Laborers.  Hender- 
son, 165.      Penn.  II.,  No.  6. 

Shakspere's  character  of  Richard  III.  Gairdner,  Richard  III. 
(Longmans.)  Gairdner,  lancaster  and  York,  210-227.  Social 
England,  II.  318-319.  Henry  Cabot  Lodge  in  ScribneSs  Maga- 
zine, February,  1897,  presents  very  vigorously,  but  with  some 
exaggeration,  the  argument  against  Shakspere's  portrait. 


246 


England 


The  Kings  of  England 

William  I.,  1066. 

I 


William  II., 
1087. 


Henry  I.,  noo. 
Matilda. 
Henry  II.,  1154. 

Richard  I.,  1189. 

I 
John,  1 199. 

Henry  III.,  1216. 


Adela. 
Stephen,  1035. 


1272. 


Edward 
Edward  II.,  1307.. 
Edward  III.,  1327. 


Edward,  the    Lionel.    John,  duke 
Black  Prince. 

Richard  II. 
1377. 


„ 


Lancaster. 


Henry  IV.,  1399.  John  Beaufort. 
Henry  V.,  1413.    John. 
Henry  VI.,  1422.   Margaret,  m 


Edmund,  duke  of  York. 

Richard,   m.  heiress  of 
Lionel. 

Richard,  duke  of  York. 

I 

1 


Edmund  Tudor.  Edward  I V.,  Richard  III., 

I  1461.  1483. 

Henry  VII.,  1485.  | 

Edward  V.,  1483. 


CHAPTER   IX 

THE  OTHER  STATES  OF   EUROPE 

234.   The  Situation  in  Germany  and  Italy.  —  The  long   No  national 
conflict  between  the  Empire  and  the  Papacy,  which  had  govem- 
grown  out  of  their  rival  claims  to  the  headship  of  the  Chris-   Adam's, 
tian  world,  left  behind  it  only  the  ruins  of  a  national  gov-    Civilization, 
ernment  in  Germany,  and  hardly  so  much  as  this  in  Italy.   356  ff- 
Both   countries  were   hopelessly  divided   into   many  small 
states,  whose  governments  were  really  independent,  but  no 
one  of  these,  with  the  possible  exception  of  some  of  the 
great  city  states  of  Italy,  had  size  or  strength  enough  to  take 
rank  among  the  states  of  Europe   until  towards  the  close 
of  the  Middle  Ages. 

Immediately  after   the   fall   of  the   great   Hohenstaufen   The  "Great 
dynasty,  a  little  after  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century,   Inter-    , 

resrnum 

came  a  period  which  is  known  as  the  Great  Interregnum.    I256_i273. 
It  was  not  strictly  an  interregnum,  for  there  were  emperors   Henderson, 
in  name,  but  they  were  foreign  princes,  like   the   king  of  Ger™any> 
Castile  and  Richard,  the  brother  of  Henry  III.  of  England, 
and  they  made  no  attempt  to  rule  Germany.     The  period 
fills  a  whole  generation,  and  in  it  Germany  grew  accustomed 
to  the   absence   of  any  national   government,  and   to  the 
exercise  of  all  sovereign  rights  by  the   rulers  of  the  small 

States.  National 

So  firmly  intrenched  was  this  local  independence  at  the  fmpoTsiMe  i 
close  of  this  generation  that  no  later  emperor  ever  made  Germany, 
any  attempt  to  break  it  down,  but  all  recognized  the  impossi-   ^ryce^^ 
bility  of  reconstructing  a  strong  national  government,  and  pire< 
they  all  made  use  of  the  opportunity  which  the  office  of  Chap.  XV. 

247 


248 


The  Other  States  of  Europe     [§§  235,  236 


The  house  of 
Luxemburg. 

I. --wis, 
(n-muiny, 

249  ff. ; 
Leger, 
Austro- 
Htmgary 

(Putnam), 
Chap.  XL; 
map, 
Putzger, 
No.  18. 


emperor  afforded  them  to  create  a  family  state  of  their  own, 
or  to  enlarge  and  strengthen  the  one  already  possessed  by 
their  house.  The  greatest  of  the  states  created  in  this  way 
was  Austria,  which  came  in  the  end  to  be  one  of  the  great 
powers  of  Europe. 

235.  The  Foundation  of  Austria.  — The  founder  of  Austria 
was  Rudolf  of  Hapsburg,  who  was  elected  emperor  at  the 
end  of  the  Great  Interregnum.  He  was  before  his  election 
a  mere  count  with  small  possessions  and  little  power,  and 
this  was  very  likely  the  reason  why  the  electors  chose  him 
for  emperor,  but  he  was  a  man  of  much  vigor  and  strength 
of  character,  and  would  perhaps  have  made  a  great  emperor 
in  better  times.  In  his  reign  the  long  conflict  of  the  Slav 
and  the  German  for  the  possession  of  the  border  lands  be- 
tween them  broke  out  into  open  war.  Ottokar  II.,  king  of 
Bohemia,  had  brought  under  his  rule  a  powerful  dominion 
on  the  borders  of  Germany  and  had  even  added  to  it  some 
German  territories  in  the  southeast,  including  the  duchy 
of  Austria.  It  seemed  as  if  the  tide,  which  had  long  been 
running  steadily  in  favor  of  the  Germans,  might  be  turning, 
and  a  Slavic  dynasty  be  about  to  rule  over  German  lands. 
But  this  did  not  prove  to  be  the  case.  When  Ottokar  re- 
fused to  do  homage  to  Rudolf  for  the  lands  he  held  of  the 
Empire,  all  Germany  supported  the  emperor  in  his  war 
upon  him.  Ottokar  was  defeated  and  deprived  of  his 
German  territories,  and  the  larger  share  of  these  Rudolf 
bestowed  upon  his  own  sons.  In  this  way  Austria  came 
into  the  possession  of  the  house  of  Hapsburg,  which  still 
retains  it. 

236.  A  Period  of  Many  Dynasties.  —  The  electors  feared 
probably  that  the  Hapsburg  family  had  gained  a  dangerous 
power  under  Rudolf,  for  they  were  unwilling  to  continue 
it  in  the  possession  of  the  Empire,  and  for  a  century  and  a 
half  there  was  no  settled  dynasty  of  emperors.  But  the 
other  houses  all  followed  the  example  of  the  Hapsburgs. 
The  most  important  of  them  was  the  Luxemburg  family, 
whose  first   emperor  was  Henry  VIL,  from   whom   Dante 


§  237]  The  Hussite  War  249 

hoped  to  see  the  restoration  of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire 
in  Italy.  To  him  the  opportunity  came  to  marry  his  son 
to  the  granddaughter  and  heiress  of  Ottokar  II.,  and  so  to 
obtain  all  that  remained  of  his  dominions.  This  appeared 
to  be  a  greater  gain  than  even  that  which  Rudolf  had 
made,  but  the  house  of  Luxemburg  was  not  destined  to  a 
long  life,  and  all  that  it  brought  together  went  at  last  by 
marriage  and  inheritance  to  swell  the  possessions  of  the 
Hapsburgs. 

237.   The  Hussite  War.  —  The  last   of  the   Luxemburg  j0hn  Huss. 
emperors,  Sigismund,  was  involved  in  another  long  Slavic   Maurice, 
war,  which  has  a  double  meaning,  as  in  part  a  war  between  chaps.  VII. 
the  races  and  in  part  a  great  religious  war.     John  Huss,  a  andvill.; 
professor  in  the  university  of  Prague,  who  had  read  the   ^°o1?.' 
books  of  Wycliffe  of  England,  and  learned  to  believe  in   pp.  285-288. 
his  teachings  in  opposition  to  the  doctrines  of  the  Catholic 
Church,  began  to  teach  them  in   Bohemia  and   obtained 
many  followers  among  the  people.     Finally  this  movement 
became  so  nearly  a  rebellion  against  the  Church  that  the 
great  council  which  had  been  called  together  at  Constance 
to  settle  the  troubles  in  regard  to  the  papacy  summoned 
Huss  to  come  before  them  and  explain  his  teachings.     He 
went  under  the  promise  of  a  safe  return  from  the  emperor, 
but  was  condemned  by  the  council  and  burned  at  the  stake. 

His  followers  in  Bohemia  took  arms  to  defend  their  faith,  a  national 
and  a  war  of  twenty  years  began.     It  came  in  the  end  to  and  rellglous 
be  really  a  war  for  the  national  independence  of  Bohemia,   MaurjCe, 
which  had  now  been  for  a  century  under  German  kings,  but  Bohemia, 
the    religious   cause    furnished   additional    inspiration    and   Si*Pl,IX~ 
enthusiasm.     In  spite  of  their  bravery  and  of  their  desper-   Austro- 
ate  resistance  the  Hussites  were  at   last   subdued,  partly  Hungary, 
because   they    were    not    united   among    themselves ;  but       ap" 
though  they  continued  to  be  ruled  by  German  kings,  the 
Church  granted  them  some  concessions  in  matters  of  reli- 
gious practice  which  they  were  willing  to  accept.     Once  The  conflict 
again  in  later   times  the  Bohemians  attempted   to  secure  German  not 
national  independence  by  war  and  failed,  and  it  is  only  yet  ended. 


250 


The  Other  States  of  Europe 


[§238 


The  Ger- 
mans win 
Slavic  lands 
by  coloniza-^ 
tion. 

Tuttle,  His-  * 
tory  of 
Prussia 
(Houghton), 
I.  112-118; 
Lewis, 
Germany, 
229  ff. 

The  Hohen- 
zollern create 
modern 
Prussia  out 
of  Branden- 
burg. 
Tuttle, 
Prussia,  I. 
64-70. 


Switzerland. 
Futzger, 
No.  18,  side 
map. 


within  the  past  few  years  that  by  peaceable  means,  through 
the  introduction  of  democratic  institutions  and  a  constitu- 
tion, they  have  begun  to  drive  the  Germans  out  of  power. 
This  conflict,  which  has  lasted  so  many  centuries,  is  still 
being  waged  with  great  bitterness  on  both  sides,  but  the 
ultimate  victory  seems  now  likely  to  fall  to  the  Slav. 

In  another  portion  of  the  Slavic  world,  on  the  southern 
shores  of  the  Baltic  Sea,  the  Germans  were  winning  large 
territories  during  these  centuries.  This  was  in  the  main  by 
peaceful  colonization  under  the  direction  of  the  Order  of 
the  Teutonic  Knights.  From  this  colonization  came  the 
Baltic  provinces  of  Prussia,  and  also  those  of  Russia  which 
are  German,  all  territory  that  was  once  Slavic. 

238.  The  Rise  of  Other  German  States.  —  The  founda- 
tions of  the  great  state  which  we  now  call  Prussia,  as  well 
as  those  of  Austria,  were  laid  in  this  period.  The  central 
territory  around  which  other  lands  were  gradually  gathered 
by  the  house  of  Hohenzollern  to  form  the  modern  kingdom 
was  the  electorate  of  Brandenburg.  This  state  was  granted 
early  in  the  fifteenth  century  to  Frederick  of  Hohenzollern 
by  the  emperor  Sigismund,  first  as  security  for  a  loan  and 
later  in  full  possession.  The  Hohenzollern  princes  managed 
their  new  dominion  with  great  care  and  skill  and  began  at 
once  the  process  of  enlargement  by  the  annexation  of 
neighboring  lands,  which  they  have  continued  down  to  the 
present  time. 

Another  state  whose  history  is  interesting,  the  republic 
of  Switzerland,  has  its  origin  in  this  period.  The  Austrian 
princes  had  some  lands  and  feudal  rights  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  the  three  original  cantons,  Uri,  Schwyz,  and  Unter- 
walden,  and  they  naturally  tried  to  extend  these  and  to 
form  out  of  them  a  little  state  of  which  they  should  have 
the  political  sovereignty,  as  many  princes  were  doing  in 
other  parts  of  Germany.  Here,  however,  they  had  to  deal 
with  a  people  who  had  long  been  free  and  accustomed  to 
rule  themselves.  The  Swiss  did  not  propose  to  submit 
to   any   foreign   rule,  and   they  defended   their   mountain 


§§  239,  240] 


Spain 


251 


valleys  with  success  against  all  the  strength  of  Austria. 
After  generations  wove  many  stirring  legends  about  this 
early  struggle  for  independence,  some  of  which  Schiller 
used  as  the  foundation  of  his  great  drama  "  Wilhelm  Tell." 

239.  Italy.  —  In  Italy  there  was  even  less  pretence  of  re- 
spect for  the  emperors'  authority  than  in  Germany.  Those 
who  went  to  Rome  to  be  crowned  were  not  allowed  to  inter- 
fere in  the  actual  government  of  the  states.  They  might 
sell  or  give  away  titles  and  even  valuable  rights,  but  they 
could  exercise  no  real  power  themselves,  and  sometimes 
the  cities  treated  them  with  open  contempt  and  insult. 
Almost  the  whole  of  north  Italy  was  divided  among  the 
city  states  which  were  constantly  contending  with  one  an- 
other for  the  enlargement  of  their  territories  or  for  com- 
mercial supremacy.  The  most  powerful  of  these  states  were 
Venice,  Milan,  Florence,  and  Genoa,  though  the  power  of 
the  last  was  rapidly  declining  at  the  close  of  this  period. 

In  government  many  changes  occurred  in  these  city  states 
after  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century.  Venice  became 
a  close  oligarchy,  Milan  a  monarchy  under  the  Visconti, 
and  later  under  the  Sforza  family,  and  in  Florence,  where 
there  was  more  of  a  tendency  towards  democracy  than  in 
the  cities  generally,  the  Medici  family  were  able  to  establish 
a  virtual  monarchy  through  the  forms  of  the  Republic.  In 
the  south  the  Norman  kingdom  of  Sicily,  which  the  Hohen- 
staufen  had  possessed,  was  divided  into  two  during  the  most 
of  this  age.  In  the  island  of  Sicily,  the  house  of  Aragon, 
which  claimed  to  represent  the  Hohenstaufen,  succeeded 
in  establishing  itself;  but  on  the  mainland,  the  house  of 
Anjou,  which  had  been  called  in  by  the  popes,  was  in  power. 
In  this  way  there  came  to  be  two  kingdoms  of  Sicily.  Cen- 
tral Italy  was  still  a  loose  and  unorganized  monarchy  with 
the  pope  as  its  sovereign. 

240.  Spain.  —  Spain  did  not  come  into  existence  as  a 
united  state  until  the  accession  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella 
in  the  last  part  of  the  fifteenth  century.  Its  history  for  the 
preceding  seven  hundred  years  had   been  filled  with  war- 


The  em- 
perors le^s 
respected 
than  in 
Germany. 
Adams, 
Civilization^ 
360  ff. 


252 


The  Other  States  of  Europe 


[§241 


Watts, 

Christian 

Recovery  of 

Spain 

(Nations)  ; 

Lane-Poole, 

Moors 

(Nations)  ; 

Tout, 

Periods, 

Chap.  XX. 


Spanish 
character 
made  by 
Spanish 
history. 


A  second 
race  of 
Turks. 
Creasy, 

Ottoman 
Turks 
(Holt)  ; 
Freeman, 
Ottoman 
Power 
(  M.icmil- 
lan) ;  Lane- 
Poole, 
Turkey 
(Nations). 

Fall  of  Con- 
stantinople. 
Gibbon, 
Chap. 
IAVIII.; 
Freeman, 
Ottoman 


fare  with  the  Moors  or  with  dynastic  conflicts.  At  the 
time  of  the  Mohammedan  conquest  at  the  beginning  of  the 
eighth  century,  some  bits  of  northern  Spain  had  remained 
unconquered.  Later,  Charlemagne  had  recovered  a  part  of 
northeastern  Spain  from  the  Saracens.  In  these  territories 
several  little  Christian  states  arose  and  began  the  long  task 
of  driving  out  the  Moors.  Five  of  these,  beginning  earlier 
or  later,  have  a  long  history.  They  are,  in  order  from  the 
east,  Aragon,  Navarre,  Castile,  Leon,  and  Portugal.  Na- 
varre was  early  shut  out  from  any  chance  of  further  expan- 
sion when  the  territories  of  Aragon  and  Castile  came  together 
on  its  southern  frontier,  and  Leon  was  finally  absorbed  by 
Castile,  but  three  large  states  remained  until  the  marriage 
of  Ferdinand  of  Aragon  and  Isabella  of  Castile  created  the 
kingdom  of  Spain.  The  predominantly  military  and  reli- 
gious character  of  Spanish  history,  during  so  many  centuries 
of  conflict  with  the  Moors,  had  made  the  nation  a  brave 
and  high-spirited  race  of  soldiers,  devotedly  attached  to  the 
Church,  and  this  is  the  character  with  which  Spain  enters 
upon  the  next  age  of  history. 

241.  The  Rise  of  the  Ottoman  Empire.  —  In  the  south- 
east of  Europe,  events  occurred  during  this  period  which 
have  bfen  followed  by  the  most  important  consequences 
down  to  the  present  time.  We  have  already  had  the  his- 
tory of  the  rise  into  power  of  the  Seljuk  Turks  in  the 
eastern  caliphate  and  of  their  conflicts  with  the  crusaders. 
About  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth  century,  another  tribe 
of  Turks  —  the  Osmanlis  or  Ottomans  —  began  to  found  an 
empire  in  western  Asia  Minor.  They  were  a  race  of  fine 
soldiers,  and  one  of  their  early  rulers  organized  the  dreaded 
corps  of  the  Janissaries,  composed  of  Christian  boys  brought 
up  by  their  captors  as  Mohammedans  and  trained  to  a  mili- 
tary life  under  the  strictest  discipline.  Soon  after  the  mid- 
dle of  the  century,  the  Turks  had  obtained  a  footing  on  the 
European  side  of  the  straits,  and  from  that  point  their  do 
minion  spread  rapidly  over  the  Greek  lands  and  up  into  the 
Danube  valley.     Before  very  long  the  Eastern  Empire  was 


J40         The  Rise  of  the  Ottoman  Empire 


253 


reduced  to  a  little  territory  about  Constantinople,  and  in 
1453  that  city  also  was  captured,  and  the  Roman  Empire 
in  the  East  brought  to  an  end,  after  surviving  for  a  thou- 
sand years  the  fall  of  the  Empire  in  the  West.  The  Turks 
were  not  as  yet  satisfied  with  the  conquests  which  they  had 
made,  and  their  attempts  to  force  their  way  into  central 
Europe  are  important  elements  in  the  history  of  the  next 
age, 


Power, 

1 14-120; 

Lane-Poole, 

Turkey, 

102-133 ; 

Oman, 

Byzantine 

Empire, 

Chap. 

XXVI. 


Carving  from  a  Moslem  Screen 


254  The  Other  States  of  Europe 


Topics 

Why  had  Germany  and  Italy  failed  to  obtain  national  governments? 
The  "  Great  Interregnum."  The  policy  followed  by  the  later  emperors? 
How  did  the  Hapsburgs  obtain  Austria?  What  possessions  were  ob- 
tained by  the  Luxemburg  family?  Where  did  these  finally  go?  What 
wars  between  Slav  and  Germans  in  this  period?  What  other  ques- 
tion in  the  Hussite  war?  How,  besides  by  war,  did  the  Germans  gain 
Slavic  land,  and  where?  How  did  the  Hohenzollern  family  gain 
Brandenburg?  The  origin  of  Switzerland.  The  leading  states  of  Italy 
and  their  governments.  What  difference  between  the  north  and  the 
south  of  Italy?  The  origin  of  the  Spanish  states.  What  two  processes 
run  through  Spanish  history?  When  and  how  was  modern  Spain 
formed?  The  effect  of  Spanish  history  on  Spanish  character.  The 
rise  of  the  Ottoman  Empire. 

Topics  for  Assigned  Studies 

The  freeing  of  Switzerland.  Buchheim,  Wilhelm  Tell.  (Clarendon.) 
Introduction,  pp.  xxxviii-lxii.  Hug  and  Stead,  Sxvitzcrland 
(Nations),  Chaps.  X.  and  XI. 

The  character  of  the  Cid.  Clarke,  The  Cid.  (Heroes.)  Watts, 
Christian  Recovery  of  Spain  (Nations),  Chap.  III.  Lane- 
Poole,  Moors  of  Spain  (Nations),  191-213. 

The  regulation  of  the  German  electorate.  Bryce,  Holy  Roman  Empire, 
225-238.    Text  in  Henderson,  220-261. 

Topics  for  Review 

The  states  which  were  formed  from  Charlemagne's  empire. 

The  history  of  the  title  "  Emperor  of  Rome  "  during  this  period. 

What  actual  power  attached  to  it  in  different  ages? 

The  experiences  of  the  city  of  Constantinople  during  this  period.    Of 

the  city  of  Jerusalem. 
Compare  the  political  development  of  the  states  of  England,  France, 

and  Germany. 
The  history  of  commerce. 
The  position  of  the  working  classes,  and  the  influences  which  affected 

them. 
The  rise  of  the  papacy  to  European  power. 
The  results  which  followed  the  crusades. 


Important  Dates  for  Review 


255 


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PART   VI 

RENAISSANCE  AND  REFORMATION 

Books  for  Reference  and  Further  Reading 

Pastor,  History  of  the  Popes  from  the  Close  of  the  Middle  Ages.  Trans- 
lated from  the  German  by  F.  J.  Antrobus.  (London  ;  Kegan 
Paul  ;   3  vols.,  36^.) 

Janssen,  History  of  the  German  People  at  the  Close  of  the  Middle  Ages. 
(St.  Louis;    Herder;  8  vols.;   $18.50.) 

Both  translations  from  the  German  as  yet  unfinished.  Pastor  is 
a  fine  specimen  of  Catholic  scholarship.  Janssen,  also  Catholic, 
has  been  very  severely  criticised,  but  is  very  interesting. 

Creighton,  History  of  the  Papacy  from  the  Great  Schism  to  the  Sack  of 
Rome.     6  vols.     (Longmans;  #12.00.) 

Symonds,  The  Renaissance  in  Italy.  7  vols.  (Holt ;  #14.00.)  Con- 
densed in  1  vol.  by  Pearson.     (Holt ;  #1.75.) 

Burckhardt,  The  Civilization  of  the  Renaissance  in  Italy.  2  vols. 
(Macmillan  ;   #4.00.) 

Kostlin,  Life  of  Luther.     (Scribner  ;   #2.50.) 

Fisher,  The  Reformation.     (Scribner  ;   #2.50.) 

Hausser,  The  Period  of  the  Reformation.  1517-1648.  (Am.  Tract 
Soc;   #2.00.) 

University  lectures  given  in  1859,  but  still  a  very  useful  book. 

Froude,  History  of  England.     12  vols.     (Scribner;   #18.00.) 

Busch,  England  under  the  Tudor s.  Vol.  I.  Henry  VII.  (1485-1509). 
Translated  from  the  German  by  Miss  Alice  M.  Todd  and  the  Rev. 
A.  H.  Johnson,  M.A.,  with  an  Introduction  by  Mr.  James  Gairdner, 
Editor  of  "  The  Paston  Letters."  Demy  8vo,  cloth.  (London  ; 
Innes  ;   net  16.?.) 

Robinson  and  Rolfe.  Petrarch,  the  First  Modem  Scholar  and  Man  of 
Letters.  (Putnam  ;  #2.00.)  Translations  of  Petrarch's  letters  with 
notes. 

Whitcomb,  Source-Book  of  the  Italian  Renaissance.  (Penn.)  An- 
nounced. 

s  257 


258  The  Revival  of  Learning 

Summary 

With  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  century  conditions  began 
to  favor  a  real  revival  of  learning  as  they  had  never  done  before. 
In  the  previous  century  even,  the  revival  had  been  begun  by 
Petrarch  in  collecting  the  Latin  classics  and  awakening  a  taste 
for  their  study.  The  fifteenth  century  opened  with  the  revival 
of  Greek  and  the  recovery  of  the  Greek  writings.  By  the  middle 
of  the  century  a  true  scientific  method  had  been  restored,  espe- 
cially in  the  study  of  language  and  of  history.  Then  came  at 
once  the  invention  of  printing,  which  cheapened  books  immensely 
and  spread  the  results  of  the  new  learning  broadcast  over  Europe. 
The  century  closed  with  the  great  oceanic  discoveries,  the  sea 
route  to  India  and  the  New  World.  The  first  generation  of  the 
sixteenth  century  brought  the  Renaissance  to  an  end,  involved 
in  the  revolutionary  conflicts  which  followed  the  Reformation, 
but  not  until  it  had  produced  its  finest  product  in  two  directions 
in  the  great  age  of  Italian  art  and  in  the  scientific  criticism  and 
earnest  practical  spirit  of  Erasmus,  and  taken  the  first  long  step 
of  modern  physical  science  in  the  work  of  Copernicus.  Mean- 
while another  line  of  great  interest  runs  through  the  fifteenth 
century  —  the  attempt  to  change  the  constitution  of  the  Church 
and  to  modify  some  of  its  teachings.  Under  the  influence  of  the 
kings  of  France  the  popes  had  lived  for  more  than  half  a  century 
at  Avignon.  The  increasing  complaints  of  Europe  had  led  to 
an  attempt  to  restore  the  papacy  to  Rome,  but  the  only  result 
had  been  to  split  the  Church  in  two  with  two  opposing  popes. 
Then  arose  the  theory  of  the  supremacy  of  the  general  council 
in  the  government  of  the  Church,  and  the  attempt  to  carry  this 
out  in  the  councils  of  Pisa  and  of  Constance  early  in  the  fifteenth 
century.  The  council  of  Constance  succeeded  in  restoring  the 
unity  of  the  Church  and  almost  in  providing  for  regularly  recur- 
ring representative  assemblies,  which  would  have  changed  the 
constitution  of  the  Church  into  that  of  a  limited  monarchy.  Con- 
temporary with  this  movement,  Wycliffe  in  England  led  a  revolt 
against  some  of  the  most  characteristic  teachings  of  the  medieval 
Church,  and  when  this  failed,  John  Huss  took  up  the  same  ideas 
in  Bohemia,  where  they  led  to  a  long  religious  and  race  war  with 
the  Germans,  though  Huss  himself  was  burnt  as  a  heretic  by  the 
council  of  Constance.  The  demand  for  reform,  however,  con- 
tinued to  grow  stronger  throughout  the  fifteenth  century,  and  at 
last  found  its  leader  in  Luther,  who  opened  the  Reformation  by 


§242]  A    Transitional  Epoch  259 

posting  his  theses  against  the  current  ideas  of  indulgences.  In 
the  midst  of  general  excitement  Luther  was  gradually  led  on  to 
a  position  of  open  rebellion  against  the  old  Church,  and  when 
the  brilliant  assembly  of  the  Diet  of  Worms  failed  to  overawe 
him,  he  was  placed  under  the  ban  of  the  Empire.  The  political 
situation  of  Europe  was  such,  however,  that  Charles  V.  found  no 
opportunity  during  the  life  of  Luther  to  enforce  this  edict.  The 
French,  determined  rivals  for  the  possession  of  Italy,  maintained 
at  first  almost  constant  war;  the  pope,  anxious  to  protect  the 
independence  of  his  little  state,  was  a  most  uncertain  ally ;  and 
the  Turks  on  the  east  threatened  the  conquest  of  the  whole 
Danube  valley.  Charles  was  obliged  for  years  to  suspend  the 
execution  of  the  edict,  and  finally  to  make  a  peace  with  the 
Protestants  which  referred  the  points  in  dispute  to  a  general 
council  of  the  Church.  Outside  Germany  the  Scandinavian  states 
adopted  the  teachings  of  Luther ;  England  separated  itself  from 
the  papacy,  and  by  degrees  became  Protestant ;  from  Geneva 
a  new  type  of  Protestantism  of  a  decidedly  political  and  militant 
sort,  taught  by  Calvin,  spread  through  France  and  Holland  and 
into  England.  Hardly  was  Calvinism  well  established  before 
European  history  turned  rapidly  into  the  period  of  the  religious 


CHAPTER   I 

THE  REVIVAL  OF  LEARNING 


242.    A  Transitional  Epoch.  —  By  the  beginning  of  the  fif-   Gradual 
teenth  century  it  is  evident  that  the  medieval  period  is  draw-   character  of 
ing  to  a  close.     It  is,  of  course,  not  possible  to  fix  upon  any  transitions, 
exact  date  when  mankind  passes  out  of  one  great  age  of  its 
history,  which  we  distinguish  as  an  age  by  itself  because  it 
has  certain  well-marked  and  definite  characteristics  of  its 
own,  and  goes  on  into  another  epoch  of  the  same  nature  but 
with  different   characteristics.     Every  such   transition  is  a 
very  gradual  one  and  is  not  perceived  by  the  men  who  are 
bringing  it  about.     When  we  look  back  upon  such  a  period 
from  a  much  later  time,  we  can  see  the  passing  away  of  the 
old  characteristic  traits  and  the  coming  in  of  the  new. 


2<5o 


The  Revival  of  Learning 


[§243 


Character  of 
this  age. 


Renaissance 
and  Refor- 
mation. 


A  second 

birth. 

Symonds, 

Age  of  the 

Despots, 

Chap.  I.; 

Adams, 

Civilization, 

364-365. 


The  fifteenth  and  the  first  half  or  the  sixteenth  centuries 
form  an  age  which  has  many  of  the  marks  of  such  a  transi- 
tional epoch.  The  old  influences  and  the  new  are  mingled 
together  and  are  contending  with  one  another  for  the  pos- 
session of  the  field.  Gradually  the  new  show  themselves  to 
be  the  stronger.  Some  of  the  old  ideas  and  institutions 
give  way  entirely  to  new  ones  ;  others  are  transformed  ; 
others  still  remain,  but  under  such  changed  conditions  as 
make  them  something  different  from  what  they  were,  and 
new  forces  come  in  the  end  so  clearly  into  the  lead  as  to 
give  their  coloring  to  the  times,  so  that  we  can  see  clearly 
that  the  world  has  moved  on  into  a  new  stage  of  its  history. 
In  every  age  which  is  not  a  time  of  dead  stagnation  such 
changes  are  going  on.  But  some  periods  are  so  revolu- 
tionary in  their  character,  so  full  of  striking  and  dramatic 
changes,  that  they  appear  in  a  peculiar  sense  epochs  of 
transition. 

This  is  the  character  of  the  fifteenth  and  the  first  half  of 
the  sixteenth  century.  The  striking  changes  of  this  time, 
affect,  as  we  shall  see,  almost  every  department  of  human 
activity.  In  two  directions,  however,  the  intellectual  and 
the  religious,  they  were  so  peculiarly  revolutionary  as  to 
have  given  their  names  to  the  period.  This  is  the  age  of 
the  Renaissance  and  the  Reformation.  The  fifteenth  cen- 
tury is  especially  characterized  by  the  first,  the  sixteenth  by 
the  second. 

243.  The  Meaning  of  Renaissance.  — The  term  "  Renais- 
sance "  is  an  especially  good  one  with  which  to  designate  the 
intellectual  revolution.  It  was  a  new  or  second  birth.  The 
methods  of  intellectual  work,  the  literary  and  artistic  feel- 
ing, the  way  of  looking  at  life  and  its  purposes,  which  the 
fifteenth  century  brought  into  vogue,  were  not  then  intro- 
duced into  human  history  for  the  first  time.  They  had  all 
been  in  use  or  strongly  felt  before.  But  for  a  long  time 
they  had  been  lost  to  sight,  or  the  same  as  lost,  and  now 
they  were  revived.  So  great  was  the  change,  so  rich  and  full 
was  the  world  into  which  it  introduced  mankind,  that  com- 


§§  244^  245]      Learning  in  the  Middle  Ages 


261 


mon  consent  has  rightly  called  it  a  second  birth  time  of  the 


244.  The  Place  of  the  Middle  Ages  in  History.  —  Accord- 
ing to  the  view  of  history  which  is  embodied  in  this  word, 
between  the  life  of  the  ancient  world  and  the  life  of  the 
modern  there  lies  a  period  during  which  the  human  mind 
was  unconscious,  unconscious  of  itself  and  of  its  powers  of 
what  men  had  already  done  and  of  what  remained  still  to 
do ;  a  period  during  which  life  was  not  felt  to  be  so  much 
concerned  with  this  world  as  with  the  preparation  for 
another. 

Whether  this  view  be  a  correct  one  or  not,  it  is  certainly 
true  that  the  Middle  Ages  are  below  the  level  of  either 
ancient  or  modern  times  in  intellectual  civilization.  This 
is  probably  because  it  was  the  period  in  which  the  Teutonic 
barbarians  who  had  taken  possession  of  the  West  were  being 
raised  to  a  point  where  they  could  comprehend  and  go  on 
with  the  work  of  civilization  which  Greece  and  Rome  had 
begun.  As  a  distinct  period  in  the  history  of  civilization, 
therefore,  it  begins  to  draw  to  a  close  when  men  begin  to 
appreciate  at  its  true  worth  the  intellectual  results  of  classic 
times.  The  fourteenth  century  is  the  age  in  which  this 
appreciation  in  the  true  sense  begins,  and  in  the  fifteenth 
it  becomes  more  general.  This  is  the  age  of  the  revival  of 
learning  or  of  the  Renaissance. 

245.  Learning  in  the  Middle  Ages.  —  It  is  not  true  that 
all  knowledge  disappeared  during  the  Middle  Ages.  A  very 
great  deal  was  preserved  by  the  Church,  especially  in  the 
monasteries,  but  it  took  on  a  peculiar  character,  not  like 
that  of  ancient  times,  and  often  it  was  entirely  misunder- 
stood. Greek  certainly  could  be  read  by  here  and  there  a 
man  only,  and  that  very  imperfectly.  But  many  of  the  best 
Latin  writers,  like  Vergil  and  Ovid,  were  in  frequent  use. 
Their  use,  however,  was  not  as  literature,  but  almost  wholly 
as  text-books  of  language  and  grammar,  to  teach  vocabulary 
and  forms  of  sentence  construction.  The  literary  sense 
hardly  existed   at   all,   or   expressed   itself  feebly  and   in 


Not  a  period 
of  mental 
activity. 
Adams, 
Civilization, 
Chap.  I. 


The  civiliz- 
ing of  the 
Teutonic 


Formal 
learning, 
but  no 
literature. 


Symonds, 
Revival  of 
Learning, 
58-69. 


262 


The  Revival  of  Learning 


246 


No  science 
or  art. 


The  ninth 
century. 


The  eleventh 
century. 


Poole, 
Illustrations 
of  Medieval 
Thought, 
85-101. 


strange  form  in  the  lives  of  the  saints  who  wrought  wonder- 
ful miracles,  or  a  little  later  in  the  romantic  legends  of 
heroes,  like  Alexander  or  Arthur,  in  which  perhaps  there 
moved  a  faint  breath  of  history.  Those  who  attempted  to 
write  more  formal  history  slavishly  followed  one  another  for 
the  times  before  their  personal  knowledge,  and  the  Bible 
narrative  formed  the  common  foundation  of  all. 

With  the  knowledge  of  Greek  that  of  the  natural  sciences 
also  practically  disappeared.  Most  men,  even  among  those 
who  had  the  education  of  the  times,  believed  that  the  earth 
is  round  and  the  centre  of  the  motion  of  the  sun  and  the 
planets.  Astrology  as  a  means  of  foretelling  the  future  and 
alchemy  as  a  search  for  the  philosopher's  stone  or  the 
elixir  of  life,  came  the  nearest  of  anything  to  real  scientific 
work.  Even  mathematics  fell  far  behind  the  point  of  an- 
cient knowledge.  Art,  also,  hardly  existed  outside  the 
Church,  which  kept  alive  the  tradition  of  painting  in  rude 
altar  pictures,  and  something  better  in  the  architecture  of 
the  cathedrals,  but  a  true  artistic  feeling  was  as  rare  as  the 
literary. 

246.  Medieval  Revivals.  —  There  was,  however,  no  little 
progress  during  the  course  of  the  Middle  Ages  from  the 
lowest  point  of  ignorance,  which  was  reached  in  the  sixth 
and  seventh  centuries,  and  this  progress  is  marked  by 
several  epochs  of  distinct  revival  which  are  preliminary  to 
the  final  one  of  the  fifteenth  century.  The  first  of  these 
was  Charlemagne's  revival  of  schools,  of  which  we  have  had 
the  history.  Better  schools  and  better  Latin  style  were 
permanent  results  of  his  efforts.  At  the  end  of  the  tenth, 
and  in  the  first  half  of  the  eleventh  centuries,  there  is  a 
second  revival  in  which  we  can  trace  a  Greek  influence 
coming  from  the  Empire  in  the  East  through  the  marriage 
connection  of  Otto  II.  with  the  Byzantine  court,  and  an 
Arab  influence  from  the  higher  aesthetic  and  intellectual 
civilization  in  Spain.  Sylvester  II.,  who  had  been  the  tutor 
of  Otto  III.,  and  whose  strange  learning  made  people  sus- 
pect him  of  magic  and  communication  with  the  Evil  One 


§247] 


The  Age  of  Scholasticism 


263 


even  after  he  became  pope,  is  one  of  the  most  famous  men 
of  this  revival.  We  can  trace  back  into  this  age  also  the 
beginnings  of  those  methods  of  philosophical  speculation 
which  afterwards  gave  rise  to  the  great  systems  of  schol- 
asticism. 

247.  The  Age  of  Scholasticism.  —  Two  centuries  later,  in 
the  last  part  of  the  twelfth  and  the  first  of  the  thirteenth 
centuries,  occurred  a  still  more  active  and  interesting  re- 
vival. The  intellectual  keenness  and  vigor  of  the  time  has 
scarcely  ever  been  surpassed.  Mind  was,  indeed,  far  in 
advance  of  the  materials  with  which  it  had  as  yet  to  work, 
and  of  the  general  preparation  in  other  directions  for  a 
true  revival.  The  characteristics  also  of  the  leaders  were 
purely  intellectual  without  those  artistic  and  literary  ele- 
ments which  seem  to  have  been  necessary  to  the  Renais- 
sance. Material  limited  to  a  single  line,  and  a  passion  for 
abstract  speculation  determined  the  character  of  the  epoch. 
It  was  the  great  age  of  Scholasticism. 

The  influence  of  one  side  of  the  Arabian  civilization,  the 
philosophical,  was  strongly  felt  in  this  period.  Through 
them  came  a  knowledge  of  much  more  of  the  Greek  philos- 
ophy than  had  been  known  to  the  earlier  Middle  Ages.  It 
was  still  an  incomplete  and  very  one-sided  knowledge.  It 
was  Aristotle  without  Plato,  and  of  Aristotle  it  was  his  for- 
mal or  deductive  logic  almost  alone.  This  fell  in  very  well, 
however,  with  the  tendencies  of  the  time,  which,  from  the 
fact  that  almost  all  educated  men  were  interested  first  of 
all  in  theology,  were  chiefly  speculative.  The  rules  of  de- 
ductive logic  were  a  sufficient  guide  in  the  construction  of 
great  systems  of  thought  from  the  foundation  of  doctrine 
which  the  Church  supplied  in  the  works  of  the  early  fathers, 
and  Aristotle,  as  the  great  teacher  of  logic,  acquired  an  ab- 
solute authority  which  no  one  could  dispute.  In  the  field 
of  theology  this  was  one  of  the  greatest  ages  of  history  and 
has  had  a  decisive  influence  on  all  later  thinking.  St. 
Thomas  Aquinas,  who  was  probably  the  highest  product  of 
the   time,  put   into   definite  form  the  great  Catholic  doc- 


The  thir- 
teenth 
century. 
Fisher, 
Christian 
Church, 
208-218 ; 
Bacon, 

Advancement 
of  Learning 
(Clarendon), 
IV.  5. 


The  scho- 
lastic 
philosophy. 


264 


The  Revival  of  Learning 


[§248 


Rise  of  the 

universities. 

Foundation 

charter  of 

Heidelberg. 

Henderson, 

262  ff. 


trines,  and  exercises  still  an  influence  hardly  equalled  in 
this  field. 

248.  The  Founding  of  the  Universities.  —  In  another  di- 
rection the  age  of  Scholasticism  exerted  a  permanent  influ- 
ence upon  the  intellectual  history  of  the  world.  This  was  in 
the  organization  of  the  universities  of  Europe.  The  in- 
tense   eagerness   to   learn  which   characterized   the   times, 


*c\Tvv.ttK*W 


St.  John's  College,  Oxford 


seized  upon  the  best  of  the  already  existing  schools  and 
transformed  them.  The  number  of  the  students  grew 
enormously,  and  at  the  same  time  the  number  and  the  skill 
of  the  teachers.  The  branches  of  learning  began  to  be  dif- 
ferentiated from  one  another,  and  teachers  and  students  to 
specialize  in  their  studies.  New  methods  of  study  were 
also  introduced —  dialectics  in  theology  and  the  use  of  Justin- 
ian's code  in  law.  With  the  increase  in  numbers,  these 
schools  took  on  a  more  definite  organization  and  became 


§  249]       The  Renaissance  conies  first  in  Italy         26$ 


revival  of 
learning. 


great  self-governing  communities  of  a  democratic  cast,  or  at 
least  democratic  after  a  certain  stage  in  the  course  of  edu- 
cation had  been  reached.  Together  they  formed,  indeed, 
a  kind  of  international  community,  with  a  common  lan- 
guage, very  frequent  migration  from  one  to  another,  and  a 
recognized  standing  in  any  one  for  those  who  held  the 
degrees  of  another.  In  most  of  these  universities,  the 
student  life  and  much  of  the  instruction  centred  in  the  col- 
lege system,  which  survives  to-day  in  the  English  univer- 
sities. 

There  was  so  much  that  was  truly  scientific  both  in  No  true 
ideal  and  in  method  in  these  schools  that  it  seems  strange 
that  they  did  not  lead  to  a  complete  revival  of  learning. 
The  reasons  for  the  failure  are  the  same  as  those  given  for 
that  of  the  thirteenth-century  movement  as  a  whole,  —  the 
lack  of  material,  the  need  of  a  more  general  preparation, 
and  the  absence  of  a  literary  sense.  Scholasticism  seized 
upon  the  universities  and  intrenched  itself  so  strongly  in 
them  that  when  the  true  revival  came  it  found  there  its 
bitterest  opponents. 

249.  The  Renaissance  comes  first  in  Italy.  —  The  Re- 
naissance waited  some  generations  longer  before  the  general 
conditions  became  favorable.  It  was  in  Italy  that  the  prep- 
aration was  first  made.  Here  the  constantly  extending 
commerce  of  two  or  three  centuries  had  led  to  great  accum- 
ulation of  wealth,  the  growth  of  great  cities,  and  the  collect- 
ing together  of  the  materials  of  culture.  These  were  soon 
followed  by  the  awakening  of  a  literary  and  artistic  feeling, 
the  growth  of  a  native  literature  and  art,  and  the  perception 
of  the  fact  that  there  had  been,  long  before,  ages  of  high 
culture,  and  great  writers  and  artists.  Italy  led  all  Europe 
in  the  Renaissance  because  these  conditions  were  first 
combined  in  that  country. 

In  Italy,  indeed,  one  of  the  greatest  works  of  modern   Dante, 
literature   precedes    the    real   revival    of  ancient    learning.    I265-i32i 
If  there  show  themselves  in  Dante  a  more  human  and  in- 
timate feeling  for  the  ancient  world  and  its  great  men,  a 


Conditions 
most  favora- 
ble in  Italy. 


266 


The  Revival  of  Learning 


[§  250 


closer  and  more  kindly  observation  of  nature,  and  a  greater 
independence  of  judgment  than  was  usual  before  him,  he 
still  remains  in  almost  everything  a  thorough  man  of  the 

Middle  Ages. 
The  most  that 
can  be  said  is 
that  he  reveals 
the  first  faint 
light  of  the  com- 
ing day. 

250.  The  Be- 
ginning in  the 
Age  of  Petrarch. 
—  It  is  in  the 
generation  of  Pe- 
trarch and  Boc- 
caccio that  the 
day  breaks. 
These  two  men 
alone  almost  cre- 
ated a  new  liter- 
ature in  the  lyr- 
ical poetry  of  the 
first  and  the  prose  tales  of  the  second.  But  Petrarch  him- 
self believed  that  his  Latin  poems  would  bring  him  greater 
fame  than  his  Italian  lyrics,  and  his  devotion  to  the  ancient 
classics  was  his  strongest  passion.  He  sought  through  all 
the  countries  of  the  West  that  were  open  to  him,  in  the 
neglected  libraries  of  the  churches  and  monasteries,  for  the 
writings  of  the  great  authors  of  antiquity,  and  had  them 
copied  whenever  he  could  not  purchase  them.  This  repre- 
sents the  first  stage  of  the  Renaissance,  an  eager  love  for 
the  treasures  of  the  classic  world  and  the  collecting  together 
of  all  that  was  left  of  them  as  the  material  of  devoted  study. 
In  the  same  age,  even  a  little  earlier  than  Petrarch,  Giotto 
had  opened  a  new  epoch  in  painting,  seeking  to  give  a  true 
representation  to  nature  and  human  life  as  they  really  exist. 


Dante  Alighieri 


§§  251,  252]     Scientific  Method  Recovered 


267 


251.  The  Revival  of  Greek.  —  Petrarch  could  not  read 
Greek,  though  he  earnestly  desired  to  do  so,  and  the  second 
stage  of  the  revival  of  learning  is  the  recovery  of  the  know- 
ledge of  the  Greek  language.  This  was  acquired  from 
teachers  who  came  to  Italy  from  the  Eastern  Empire  in  the 
generation  immediately  following  Petrarch  and  before  the 
close  of  the  fourteenth  century.  As  the  Ottoman  Turks 
steadily  progressed  in  their  conquests  of  the  territories  of 
the  Greek  emperors,  shutting  them  up  to  a  constantly  de- 
creasing circle  of  land  around  Constantinople,  many  Greek 
scholars  abandoned  the  East,  and  in  other  ways  intercourse 
between  the  two  parts  of  the  Christian  world  became  more 
frequent.  The  Eastern  emperors  hoped  to  secure  the  mili- 
tary aid  of  the  West  in  a  new  crusade,  and  the  popes  hoped 
that  the  time  had  come  when  the  whole  of  Christendom 
should  be  united  under  their  authority.  For  a  moment  this 
last  hope  seemed  to  be  realized  in  the  decisions  of  the  council 
of  Florence.  But  in  the  end  both  pope  and  emperor  were 
disappointed.  The  one  permanent  result,  aside  from  the 
triumph  of  the  Turks,  was  the  revival  of  the  study  of  Greek 
in  the  West. 

As  soon  as  Greek  could  be  read,  there  was  the  same 
eager  desire  to  collect  Greek  manuscripts,  as  there  had  been 
and  still  was  to  get  together  the  Latin,  and  great  numbers  of 
these  were  brought  into  Italy  before  Constantinople  passed  out 
of  Christian  hands.  By  1450  the  learned  world  was  in  pos- 
session of  the  larger  share  of  those  remains  of  classical  liter- 
ature, both  Latin  and  Greek,  which  have  ever  been  recovered. 

252.  Scientific  Method  Recovered. — The  third  and  final 
stage  of  the  Renaissance,  regarded  as  a  revival  of  learning, 
followed  immediately  on  the  recovery  of  Greek.  This  was  the 
awakening  of  the  scientific  spirit.  Petrarch  had  foreshadowed 
this  as  he  did  many  traits  of  the  full  Renaissance,  and  it  had 
been  slowly  growing  since  his  time,  but  it  is  the  character- 
istic mark  of  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century.  Its  first 
great  field  was  in  the  criticism  of  the  texts  that  had  been 
recovered   to   ascertain   exactly  what   had   been  originally 


Greek 

learned  from 

the  Eastern 

Empire. 

Symonds, 

Revival  of 

Learning, 

108-113. 


Greek 

writings 
recovered. 


The  revival 
of  science 
completes 
the  Renais- 
sance.   On 
Petrarch,  see 
article  with 
translation, 
Yale  Review, 
Vol.  I. 


268 


The  Revival  of  Learning 


[§253 


The  inven- 
tion of 
minting. 


Rapid  spread 
of  printing. 
Janssen, 
{ 1,-rman 
f\-oph\  I. 
0-24. 


written,  and  in  the  reconstruction  of  ancient  history  and 
mythology.  But  it  was  the  genuine  scientific  spirit  of 
questioning  and  criticism,  using  the  method  of  collection 
and  comparison,  and  it  soon  branched  out  into  wider  fields. 
253.  The  Invention  of  Printing. — Just  at  the  middle  of 
the  century  came  a  most  wonderful  invention  which  gave  an 
unparalleled  impulse  to  learning  and  literature,  and  to  the 

whole  intellectual  life  of 
mankind.  This  was  the  in- 
vention of  printing.  From 
whence  the  suggestions 
were  derived  which  led  to 
this  invention  we  do  not 
know,  nor  even  with  cer- 
tainty by  whom  it  was 
made,  though  the  place  was 
somewhere  in  the  Rhine 
valley.  To  develop  the  art 
of  printing  books  from  its 
nearest  precursor,  the  print- 
ing of  wood  engravings, 
two  important  steps  would 
be  necessary :  first,  to  cut 
the  engraved  words  into 
single  letters,  that  is,  mov- 
able type,  so  that  different 
sentences  could  be  printed 
with  the  same  characters;  and  second  to  adapt  the  press  to 
the  process  of  making  copies.  It  is  quite  possible  that  these 
two  steps  may  have  been  taken  at  slightly  different  times 
and  by  different  men.  Though  it  cannot  now  be  said  with 
certainty  by  whom  these  steps  were  taken,  the  evidence 
seems  to  indicate  that  it  is  from  Gutenberg,  that  we  first 
have  the  art  in  its  perfected  form.  He  certainly  was  print- 
ing at  Mainz  at  the  middle  of  the  century.  From  here  the 
new  art  spread  rapidly  in  all  the  countries  of  Europe,  par- 
ticularly in  Italy,  where  the  way  was  especially  prepared  for 


■  i  krg's  Press 


§§  254?  255]    The  Renaissance  North  and  South       269 


it.     Almost  every  Italian  city  had  its  printing  business,  and 
Venice  became  the  first  centre  of  the  book  trade. 

The  early  printers  found  a  great  work  already  waiting  to 
occupy  them  for  many  years  in  two  classes  of  book  for  which 
there  was  a  peculiar  demand.  These  were  theological  and 
religious  books  for  which  the  Church  made  a  great  market, 
and  the  works  of  the  classic  authors  which  the  revival  of 
learning  had  brought  into  demand.  Twenty  editions  of  St. 
Augustine's  "  City  of  God  "  were  printed  before  the  year 
1500,  and  nearly  one  hundred  of  the  Latin  Bible,  while  there 
were  more  than  thirty  of  one  of  the  minor  poems  of  later 
Latin  literature. 

254.  Results  of  the  Invention  of  Printing.  —  In  two  ways 
the  invention  of  printing  immediately  became  a  powerful 
influence  in  the  intellectual  advancement  of  men.  It  in- 
creased enormously  the  number  of  copies  of  a  book  in  exist- 
ence, so  that  it  became  easily  accessible  everywhere  and  to 
everybody  ;  and  it  reduced  the  price  of  books  so  that  whole 
classes  to  whom  they  had  been  impossible  luxuries  now  found 
them  within  their  reach.  Printed  books  of  the  fifteenth 
century  are  not  extremely  rare.  A  library  in  Munich  pos- 
sesses more  than  twenty  thousand  specimens ;  probably 
thirty  thousand  editions  were  published  before  1500;  and 
the  price  of  books  fell  off  four-fifths.  This  was  one  of  the 
greatest  intellectual  revolutions  of  history,  not  in  the  dis- 
covery of  new  truth,  but  in  making  knowledge  the  common 
possession  of  all  men.  In  bringing  the  Middle  Ages  to  an 
end  and  introducing  the  modern,  it  was  even  more  effectual 
than  the  invention  of  gunpowder,  which  was  coming  into 
general  use  at  the  same  time  and  revolutionizing  the  art  of 
war  and  society  itself  by  depriving  the  noble  class  of  its 
advantages  in  castle  walls  and  armor  and  the  exclusive  pro- 
fession of  arms. 

255.  The  Renaissance  South  and  North  of  the  Alps.  —  In 
Italy,  where  the  first  enthusiasm  for  the  revival  of  learning 
had  been  awakened,  where  such  vast  results  in  the  restoration 
of  knowledge  had  been  achieved,  and  where  the  product  in 


Books  first 
printed. 


Character 
of  the 

Renaissance 
in  Italy. 


270 


The  Revival  of  Learning 


[§256 


literature  and  art  was  even  richer  than  that  in  learning,  the 
Renaissance  remained  its  own  chief  object.  Knowledge 
was  sought  for  its  own  sake  alone.  The  most  intense  pride 
was  felt  in  the  possession  of  full  classical  learning  and  an 
elegant  Latin  style,  and  the  principal  results  of  the  age  were 
a  culture  somewhat  superficial  in  character  and  a  science 
which,  aside  from  the  great  work  it  accomplished  in  the 
classical  field,  was  fruitless. 

North  of  the  Alps,  among  the  nations  of  Teutonic  race, 
the  Renaissance  advanced  to  further  results.  The  first  stage 
of  this  is  to  be  seen  most  clearly  in  England,  in  the  last  year 
of  the  fifteenth  and  the  first  of  the  sixteenth  century.  There 
a  little  group  of  scholars  in  the  university  of  Oxford,  of  whom 
Colet,  who  founded  St.  Paul's  School  in  London  to  further 
the  new  methods  of  education,  and  Thomas  More,  Henry 
VIII.'s  minister,  were  the  leaders,  sought  knowledge  for  the 
sake  of  reform.  Their  purpose  was  to  study  the  New  Tes- 
tament and  the  writings  of  the  early  Church  in  order  to  find 
out  the  real  character  of  the  original  Christianity,  and  to  use 
this  knowledge  to  remove  from  the  Christianity  of  their  time 
the  corruptions  and  abuses  which  had  come  in. 

256.  Erasmus. — About  1498  a  young  Dutch  scholar, 
Erasmus  of  Rotterdam,  came  to  Oxford  to  study  Greek  be- 
cause he  was  at  the  time  too  poor  to  go  to  Italy,  where  every 
one  went  to  learn  Greek  who  could  afford  to  do  so.  He 
had  already  been  for  some  time  a  student  at  the  university 
of  Paris,  where  he  had  made  a  considerable  reputation  for 
learning,  and  he  was  destined  to  attain  the  highest  fame  and 
the  widest  influence  of  any  scholar  of  the  age.  At  Oxford  he 
formed  a  close  friendship  with  Colet  and  More,  and  seems 
to  have  been  inspired  by  them  with  their  earnest  and  practi- 
cal purposes.  At  any  rate  he  became  from  this  time  on  a 
most  earnest  advocate  of  reform,  and  a  determined  enemy 
of  the  current  abuses. 

These  purposes  he  labored  for  in  two  ways.  In  one  he 
made  use  of  his  remarkable  literary  talents,  and  poured  tor- 
rents of  ridicule  over  the  follies  and  ignorance  of  the  monks 


§256] 


Erasmus 


271 


and  scholastics,  the  supporters  of  the  old  abuses.  His  "  Col- 
loquies "  and  his  "  Praise  of  Folly "  were  read  everywhere 
throughout  Europe  and,  though  men  laughed,  their  eyes  were 
opened  to  the  necessity  of  reformation.  In  another  way 
Erasmus  devoted  the  great  resources  of  his  scholarship  to 
the  same  end.  His  life  work  was  the  preparation  of  care- 
fully critical  editions  of  the  New  Testament  and  of  the  writ- 
ings of  the  early  fathers  of  the  Church.  His  purpose  was  first 
to  ascertain  just  what  had  been  originally  written,  as  nearly 
as  possible,  and  just  what  it  had  meant  to  those  who  wrote 
it,  and  then  to  give  these  results  in  accessible  form  to  all 
scholars.  It  was  his  intention  that  they  should  be  made 
known  ultimately  to  the  ignorant  as  well  as  to  the  learned, 
and  this  intention  he  himself  directly  helped  to  realize  by 
his  paraphrases  of  the  New  Testament  narratives  which  were 
long  in  use  in  the  Protestant  churches.  His  edition  of  the 
New  Testament  was  published  in  15 16,  in  time  to  be  of 
great  use  to  Luther  in  his  translation.  It  was  republished 
many  times  in  different  places  in  Europe  and  formed  the 
foundation  until  very  recent  times  both  of  the  accepted  or 
standard  text  of  the  Greek  original  and  of  the  Protestant 
translations  of  the  New  Testament. 

Erasmus  lived  for  some  years  after  Luther's  first  attack 
on  the  Catholic  Church,  but  though  he  sympathized  with 
him  fully  in  his  desire  for  reformation,  he  did  not  agree  with 
Luther  in  several  very  important  matters.  He  did  not  be- 
lieve in  the  use  of  violent  and  revolutionary  methods  to  bring 
about  the  reformation,  while  Luther  preferred  to  break  the 
Church  in  two  rather  than  leave  it  unreformed,  and  he  did 
not  believe  in  the  Augustinian  doctrines  of  theology  which 
Luther  held  to  against  those  of  the  Church.  Erasmus  has 
been  called  a  coward  because  while  he  went  so  far  with 
Luther  in  demanding  a  reformation  he  was  not  ready  to  go 
all  the  way  with  him.  But  Sir  Thomas  More,  who  believed 
as  Erasmus  did,  was  not  a  coward,  for  he  willingly  died  for 
his  convictions,  and  we  have  no  right  to  suppose  that  Eras- 
mus did  not  go  as  far  as  he  honestly  could. 


The  New 
Testament. 


272  Topics 


Topics 

Character  of  the  age.  Meaning  of  the  term  "  Renaissance."  What 
great  work  in  civilization  was  accomplished  during  the  Middle  Ages  ? 
How  much  positive  knowledge  had  the  Middle  Ages  ?  Revivals  of 
learning  before  the  Renaissance.  The  source  and  character  of  scholas- 
ticism. The  rise  and  character  of  the  universities.  Why  did  the  re- 
vival of  learning  come  first  in  Italy  ?  The  relation  of  Dante  to  it. 
What  was  accomplished  by  Petrarch  ?  How  was  Italy  taught  Greek  ? 
In  what  ways  were  the  methods  of  modern  science  first  applied  ?  The 
invention  of  printing  and  its  results.  Characteristics  of  the  Renaissance 
in  the  north  of  Europe.  The  purposes  and  work  of  Erasmus.  Why 
did  he  not  become  a  Protestant  ? 


Topics  for  Assigned  Studies 

The  universities.  Rashdall,  The  Universities  of  Europe  in  the  Middle 
Ages.  2  vols.  (Clarendon.)  Laurie,  The  Rise  of  Universities. 
(Appleton.)  Compayre,  A belard  and  the  Origin  of  the  Universi- 
ties. (Scribner.)  Mullinger,  Cambridge,  and  Brodrick,  Oxford 
(Epochs  Ch.  Hist.). 

The  medieval  student.  In  Rashdall,  Universities,  Penn.  II.,  No.  3, 
and  Haskins,  Am.  Hist.  Review,  Vol.  III. 

Erasmus.  Drummond,  Erasmus.  2  vols.  Froude,  Life  and  Letters 
of  Erasmus.  (Scribner.)  Both  contain  many  translations  from 
Erasmus.  Translations  of  the  Praise  of  Folly  and  of  the  Collo- 
quies (London  ;  Reeves  and  Turner),  and  in  numerous  other 
editions.  Seebohm,  Oxford  Reformers.  (Longmans.)  Very  full 
on  Erasmus'  purposes,  with  translations.  For  political  ideas,  see 
More's  Utopia.     See  also,  Penn.  I.,  No.  1. 


CHAPTER   II 

THE   IMMEDIATE   RESULTS   OF  THE   REVIVAL 

257.  Advance  in  Knowledge.  —  Before  the  end  of  Eras-  Advance  in 
mils'  life   the   intellectual   history  of  the  world  had  been  two  direc" 

•       -i      /-  -1      •  ,-rr  T  •  Til       tlOnS. 

carried  forward  in  two  very  different  directions.  In  both 
human  knowledge  had  been  advanced  far  beyond  that  of 
the  classical  times  which  it  had  been  the  especial  object 
of  the  Renaissance  to  restore.  In  one  direction  the  earth 
had  been  explored,  its  form  and  size  determined,  and  new 
continents  laid  open  to  European  enterprise,  and  in  the 
other  the  true  place  of  the  earth  in  the  solar  system  and  its 
relation  to  the  sun  and  the  planets  had  been  determined. 

258.  The  Commercial  Situation  of  the  Fifteenth  Century. —  India  the 
The  increasing  knowledge  of  the  fifteenth  century,  combined  goa ' 
with  commercial  ambition  and  rivalry,  led  to  the  great  ex- 
plorations of  the  age.     Then,  as  in  the  time  of  the  crusades, 

the  object  of  the  merchant  was  to  reach  India  and  obtain 
a  share  in  the  exceedingly  profitable  trade  in  Oriental  goods. 
The  new  ambition  of  the  fifteenth  century  was  to  discover 
some  route  by  which  India  itself  might  be  reached,  and 
thus  avoid  the  difficulties  which  beset  the  routes  through 
the  Mohammedan  countries  of  western  Asia  and  Egypt. 
This  was,  besides,  a  real  necessity  for  the  new  nations,  like 
Spain  and  Portugal,  which  were  anxious  to  share  in  the  com- 
merce of  the  time.  The  northern  Mediterranean  routes  were 
practically  closed  by  the  advance  of  the  Turkish  conquests. 
The  natural  and  easy  route  through  Egypt  was  a  virtual 
monopoly  of  the  Venetians  through  the  especially  favorable 
arrangements  which  they  had  with  the  rulers  of  that  country. 
t  273 


274 


Immediate  Results  of  the  Revival        [§  259 


Navigation 
still  cautious. 
Map  of  the 
discoveries, 
Putzger, 
No.  32. 


The  west 
coast  of 
Africa. 
Fiske,  Dis- 
covery of 
America,  I., 
Chap.  IV. 


Some  new  non-Mediterranean  route  to  India  must  be  dis- 
covered, or  the  hope  of  sharing  in  the  riches  of  the  Eastern 
trade  must  be  given  up. 

Long  before  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  century  medi- 
eval commerce  had  begun  to  adventure  out  into  the  Atlan- 
tic, though  it  was 
still  timid,  afraid  of 
strange  dangers,  and 
rarely  bold  enough 
to  go  out  of  sight  of 
land.  The  magnetic 
needle  had  become 
known  in  the  West, 
probably  as  early  as 
the  twelfth  century, 
but  its  most  impor- 
tant application  to 
the  art  of  navigation 
was  not  yet  fully  un- 
derstood. The  first 
great  discoveries  of 
the  fifteenth  century 
were  made  by  ex- 
plorers who  still  crept 
along  the  coast  and 
were  unwilling  to  lose 
sight  of  it  for  any 
long  period. 

259.    The     Portu- 
^  .^S        MB  guese  Discoveries. — 

These  first  discover- 
ies were  those  of  the 
Portuguese  along  the 
west  coast  of  Africa. 
They  began  perhaps  in  the  desire  of  the  nation  to  con- 
tinue its  conquests  from  the  Moors  in  northwestern  Africa, 
since  further  conquests  in  the  Spanish  peninsula  were  no 


Armor  of  Columbus 

(The  Arsenal,  Madrid) 


§26o] 


Columbus 


275 


longer  possible  on  account  of  the  expansion  of  Castile, 
which  had  reached  the  Atlantic  south  of  Portugal.  It 
was  soon  found,  however,  that  there  were  profitable  arti- 
cles of  commerce  to  be  had  in  Africa,  and  the  Portuguese 
were  attracted  further  down  the  coast.  The  classical  tra- 
dition of  a  passage  around  Africa  was  revived,  and  before 
long  the  Portuguese  became  possessed  with  the  ambition 
of  reaching  India  by  this  route. 

This  direction  was  largely  given  to  their  efforts  by  a  prince 
of  their  royal  family,  Prince  Henry  the  Navigator.  He  took 
up  his  residence  on  the  retired  promontory  of  Cape  St. 
Vincent,  collected  all  the  information  that  he  could,  made 
himself  familiar  with  the  best  scientific  knowledge  of  his 
time,  and  gave  his  life  to  encouraging  the  explorations  of 
his  countrymen  toward  the  south. 

Prince  Henry  did  not  live  to  see  the  final  success  of  his 
plans.  Progress  was  very  slowly  and  cautiously  made. 
About  all  that  each  expedition  did  was  to  turn  one  of  the 
difficult  headlands  on  the  African  coast,  and  learn  that  so 
far  at  least  the  dangers  of  the  ocean  and  the  horrors  of  the 
torrid  zone  were  mythical.  Encouraged  by  this  result,,  they 
next  passed  the  next  cape,  and  returned  to  report  their  safety. 
Only  about  1484  was  the  equator  finally  crossed.  The  next 
expedition,  that  of  Bartholomew  Diaz  in  i486,  was  carried 
by  a  storm  around  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  as  it  was  named 
on  his  return,  and  found  reason  to  hope  that  the  extremity 
of  the  continent  had  been  reached. 

It  was  ten  years  before  this  discovery  was  followed  up  by 
a  voyage  to  India,  and  in  the  meantime  another  explorer, 
de  Covilham,  going  through  Egypt  and  Ethiopia,  had  crossed 
from  the  east  coast  of  Africa  to  India  and  returned.  In 
1497  Vasco  da  Gama  passed  around  Africa,  sailed  up  the 
east  coast  to  Mozambique,  found  Arabic-speaking  pilots, 
and  crossed  to  India.  After  an  absence  of  over  two  years 
he  returned  to  Lisbon  with  the  goods  of  the  Orient  acquired 
in  a  direct  voyage. 

260.    Columbus.  —  Before  Vasco  da  Gama  set  out  upon 


Prince 
Henry  the 
Navigator, 
1394-1460. 


The  Cape 
of  Good 
Hope 
discovered. 


The  Portu- 
guese reach 
India. 
Stephens, 
Portugal, 
185-192. 


276  Immediate  Results  of  the  Revival        [§  260 


Columbus' 
ideas  and 
character. 
Adams, 
Civilization, 
388  ff. 


this  voyage,  the  greatest  discovery  of  the  age  had  been 
made.  Columbus  had  come  to  believe,  as  did  the  scholars 
of  his  time  in  common  with  those  of  the  classical  world,  that 
the  earth  is  round.     He  believed  it  to  be  much  smaller  than 


Columbus 


it  is  and  reasoned  that  by  sailing  west  one  could  reach  India 
with  no  very  long  voyage.  He  not  merely  believed  this,  but 
he  had  the  courage  to  risk  everything  to  prove  its  truth. 
The  great  difficulty  which  he  had  to  overcome  was  that  of 
persuading  others  of  its  probability,  the  scholastic  clergy  who 
were  the  advisers  of  kings,  the  kings  themselves  who  must 


26l] 


Columbus    Discoveries 


277 


furnish  the  means  for  an  expedition,  and  the  sailors  who 
must  man  it,  and  whose  superstitious  terrors  were  especially 
hard  to  overcome.  The  most  remarkable  thing  about  Co- 
lumbus was  not  his  belief  that  by  sailing  west  he  would  reach 
India,  but  it  was  the  courage  which  led  him  to  dare  to  try 
the  voyage  and  to  stick  to  it  until  he  reached  the  land. 
This  marks  better  than  any  other  single  event  of  the  time 
the  age  when  medieval  superstitions  were  dying  out,  and 
modern  knowledge  and  daring  based  on  knowledge  were 
born  together. 

261.  Columbus'  Discoveries.  —  Portugal  and  England  both 
declined  to  venture  anything  on  Columbus'  ideas,  and  Spain 
was  only  with  difficulty  persuaded.  The  voyage  occupied 
far  less  time  than  that  to  India.  He  sailed  on  the  3d  of 
August,  1492,  and  returned  on  the  15th  of  March  of  the 
next  year  and  announced  his  success.  He  thought  the  coast 
of  Cuba  which  he  had  reached  was  that  of  the  continent  of 
Asia,  and  he  believed  he  had  opened  a  new  route  to  India. 
In  a  later  voyage  he  did  touch  the  continent  of  South  Amer- 
ica, but  not  until  after  North  America  had  been  seen  by 
Cabot  in  the  employ  of  England.  For  as  soon  as  the  suc- 
cess and  safety  of  these  distant  expeditions  were  proved,  all 
nations  became  ambitious  of  a  share  in  them.  England  and 
France  joined  Spain  and  Portugal  in  exploration,  and  new 
discoveries  were  almost  daily  made.  Especially  important 
were  the  discovery  of  the  Pacific  Ocean  by  Balboa  in  15 13, 
and  the  voyage  of  Magellan,  who  set  out  in  15 19,  passed 
through  the  straits  at  the  southern  extremity  of  South  Amer- 
ica which  now  bear  his  name,  crossed  the  Pacific,  to  which 
he  gave  its  name,  and  really  reached  the  East  Indies  too  late 
to  undeceive  Columbus,  who  died  supposing  that  he  had  done 
this.  There  he  was  killed  by  the  natives,  but  his  lieutenant 
continued  the  voyage  to  the  west,  passed  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope,  and  finally  returned  to  Spain,  proving  the  earth  to  be 
a  sphere  and  obtaining  the  first  real  evidence  of  its  size. 

The  share  of  these  events  in  the  great  intellectual  revolu- 
tion of  the  age  is  nowhere  very  fully  indicated  by  the  writers 


America 
discovered. 


Other  ex- 
plorers. 
Old  South, 
Nos. 

17,  20, 34-37 ; 
Am.  Hist. 
Leaf,  Nos.  9 
and  13 ; 
Cassell's 
National 
Library, 
No.  32. 


A  new  age 

intellectually. 


Commerce 
oceanic. 


278  Immediate  Results  of  tJie  Revival         [§  262 

of  the  time,  but  it  must  have  been  very  large.  The  geographi- 
cal horizon  could  not  be  so  enormously  widened  without  a 
corresponding  broadening  of  human  vision  in  all  directions. 
Mankind  were  entering  into  possession  of  a  whole  world  of 
knowledge  and  new  ideas,  as  they  were  physically  into  the 
possession  of  the  whole  globe. 


Cortes 

262.  The  Economic  Results.  —  In  another  direction,  in  the 
economic  conditions  of  the  world,  as  great  a  revolution  was 
wrought  by  these  events  as  in  the  intellectual.  Commerce 
ceased  to  be  Mediterranean  and  became  oceanic,  as  it  is  to- 
day. The  Mediterranean  Sea  was  no  longer  the  centre  of 
the  world.  The  countries  open  to  the  Atlantic,  like  Spain, 
Portugal,  Holland,  and  England,  became  the  great  commer- 
cial nations  of  Europe.  Venice  lost  her  supremacy,  though 
she  struggled  hard  to  maintain  it.     Lisbon  became  in  sue- 


§  263]     First  Great  Step  in  Physical  Science        279 

cession  the  distributing  point  of  Oriental  goods,  and  the 
Portuguese  founded  the  first  European  empire  in  the  East 
Indies.  The  consumer  shared  in  the  benefits  of  these 
changes,  for  the  price  of  spices  fell  to  one-half  at  a  single 
stroke.  At  the  same  time  the  stores  of  the  precious  metals  increased 
of  Mexico  and  Peru  began  to  be  poured  into  the  markets  of  quantity  of 
Europe  as  a  result  of  the  Spanish  discoveries  and  conquests  siiVer. 
in  America.  While  the  goods  imported  into  Europe  fell  in 
price  in  consequence  of  the  better  commercial  facilities  of 
the  time,  those  produced  by  labor  in  Europe  itself  sold  for 
higher  prices  because  of  the  declining  value  of  gold  and 
silver.  It  was  a  time  of  improvement  and  prosperity  for  the 
laboring  classes  where  they  were  economically  free  enough 
to  take  advantage  of  the  rise  in  prices,  as  they  were  in  Eng- 
land and  in  most  of  France.  Where  they  were  not  able  to 
dispose  freely  of  their  labor  and  its  products,  as  in  Germany, 
it  was  a  time  of  great  discontent  and  of  attempts  to  change 
their  conditions  by  violence  and  insurrection,  as  we  shall  see 
hereafter. 

263.  The  First  Great  Step  in  Physical  Science.  —  While  Copernicus, 
Columbus  and  the  Portuguese  were  laying  open  the  earth  to  1473-i543- 
human  knowledge,  another  great  explorer  was  tracing  out 
the  geography  of  the  solar  system.  This  was  Copernicus, 
who  was  born  in  Poland  in  1473.  He  was  sent  to  Italy  to 
complete  his  university  studies,  and  there  became  especially 
interested  in  mathematics  and  astronomy.  Very  early  in 
his  studies  he  came  to  the  conclusion  that  there  must  be  a 
simpler  explanation  of  the  movements  of  the  heavenly 
bodies  than  the  one  which  everybody  believed  at  the  time, 
the  ancient  Ptolemaic,  which  made  the  earth  the  centre  of 

the  universe.  The  scientific 

That   real   science   had   now   begun,  as  compared  with  method  of 
medieval  methods  of  study,  can  be  seen  in  the  fact  that  no  F°rp  his  ovvn 
more  correct  methods  of  investigation  could  be  employed   statement  of 
to-day  in  the  study  of  a  similar  problem  than  those  which  ^  "^°%- 
Copernicus  used.     He  first  examined  the  ancient  scientific  vieWj  I#  I60> 
writings  to  see  if  any  suggestion  of  another  explanation  had  n.  2. 


28o 


Immediate  Results  of  the  Revival         [§  263 


been  made,  and  found  in  them  a  theory  which  seemed  to 
him  more  reasonable.  Then  he  began  to  study  and  com- 
pare all  the  observations  which  he  could  find  recorded  and 
others  which  he  made  himself,  until  he  was  convinced  that 
this  theory  accorded  with  the  facts  much  better  than  the 
Ptolemaic.  All  his  life,  however,  he  devoted  to  the  collec- 
tion of  further  proof,  which  was,  at  the  beginning  of  modern 


LOKKNZO  M.m.nifico 
From  a  portrait  in  Berlin 


The  first 
work  of 
modern 
science. 


astronomy,  without  observatories  or  instruments,  a  very 
slow  and  difficult  process.  His  conclusions  he  did  not  pub- 
lish until  the  very  end  of  his  life  in  1543.  A  copy  of  the 
printed  book  was  brought  to  him  as  he  lay  on  his  death-bed. 
This  was  the  first  great  step  in  the  advance  of  modern 
science,  and  two  things  about  it  are  especially  important  to 
notice.  The  first  is  that  it  begins  in  the  use  of  a  new 
method,  that  of  observation  and  comparison.     The  second 


§§  264,  265] 


Art  and  Literature 


281 


is  that  our  science  rests  upon  the  work  which  the  students 
of  the  ancient  world  accomplished  in  their  time,  and  this  is 
as  true  of  the  other  sciences  as  it  is  of  astronomy. 

264.  The  End  of  the  Renaissance. — When  Copernicus' 
book  was  published,  Erasmus  had  long  been  dead,  and  civil 
war  was  just  about  to  begin  between  the  Protestants  and  the 
Catholics  in  Germany,  the  first  in  a  long  series  of  civil  wars 
over  religion  which  laid  waste  almost  every  country  of 
Europe.  In  these  political  revolutions  and  conflicts,  the 
age  of  the  Renaissance  came  to  an  end.  It  had  been  an 
age  of  wonderful  intellectual  progress,  and  it  had  prepared 
the  way  for  other  great  changes,  and  made  them  necessary. 
It  is  not  unnatural  that  these  now  occupied  the  chief  atten- 
tion of  men  to  the  comparative  exclusion  of  science  and 
the  pursuit  of  knowledge.  After  an  interval  of  almost  a 
hundred  years,  another  age  of  great  scientific  discovery 
comes  on,  the  seventeenth  century. 

265.  Art  and  Literature.  —  Great  as  was  the  Renaissance 
on  its  purely  intellectual  side,  it  was  even  greater  as  an  age 
of  art  and  literature.  In  this  direction,  again,  Italy  led  the 
world,  and  her  achievement  in  the  fifteenth  and  early  six- 
teenth centuries,  in  the  fine  arts  at  least,  remains  to  the 
present  time  unequalled.  The  great  wealth  with  which  her 
cities  were  stored  was  employed  with  lavish  hand  to  en- 
courage artists  of  all  kinds  and  to  beautify  both  the  cities 
and  private  residences  with  every  species  of  art.  Of  the 
rulers  the  Medici  at  Florence  are  especially  famous  for 
their  liberal  patronage  of  art  and  literature,  and  many  of 
the  popes,  like  Nicholas  V.,  who  founded  the  Vatican  library, 
strove  to  make  Rome  the  capital  of  the  world  in  literature 
and  art  as  in  religion. 

The  names  of  the  greatest  of  these  artists  are  familiar  to 
all  the  world,  Leonardo  da  Vinci,  Raphael,  and  Michael 
Angelo,  whose  long  life  spans  almost  the  whole  of  the 
period,  but  there  is  a  crowd  of  lesser  names  which  would 
have  rendered  any  less  wonderful  age  illustrious.  Correg- 
gio,  Titian,  and  Cellini  are  only  less  famous  than  those  first 


The  Renais- 
sance ends 
in  an  age  of 
revolution. 
In  Italy, 
Symonds, 
Catholic 
Reaction,  I. 
204-228. 


Favorable 
conditions  in 
Italy. 


The  artists 
of  Italy. 


282 


Immediate  Results  of  the  Revival        [§  265 


named.  The  age  is  distinguished  also  by  the  fact  that  its 
artists  are  almost  equally  great  in  more  than  one  branch  of 
art  at  the  same  time.  Michael  Angelo,  for  example,  is  an 
artist  of  the  first  rank  in  sculpture,  painting,  and  architect- 
ure at  once. 

In  the  literature  of  the  age,  Italy  is  not  so  unrivalled  as  in 
art,  and  no  work  of  these  generations  equals  the  earlier  work 
of  Dante  and  of  Petrarch.  But  Ariosto  in  poetry,  and 
Machiavelli  in  history,  and  in  the  scientific  observation  of 
politics,  are  names  which  will  never  be  forgotten. 

Northern  Europe  in  the  last  age  of  the  Renaissance  pro- 
duced a  few  names  which  are  still  remembered.  Holbein 
and  Albert  Diirer  in  art,  and  Hans  Sachs  and  Ulrich  von 
Hutten  in  literature  belong  to  Germany.  Holland  had  led 
the  way  in  the  north  in  painting  and  had  done  much  to  im- 
prove the  methods  of  the  art.  France,  if  she  produced  no 
great  artists  of  her  own,  called  those  of  Italy  into  her  ser- 
vice —  both  Leonardo  da  Vinci  and  Cellini  spent  some  time 
at  Paris  —  and  in  literature  she  gave  us  Montaigne  and 
Rabelais. 


Topics 

What  was  the  motive  of  exploration  in  the  fifteenth  century  ?  The 
character  of  fifteenth  century  navigation.  The  discoveries  made  by  the 
Portuguese.  The  characteristics  of  Columbus.  His  and  other  discov- 
eries in  the  West.  The  economic  results  of  the  age  of  discoveries. 
Copernicus'  method  of  work  and  his  discoveries.  What  brought  the 
age  of  the  Renaissance  to  an  end  ?    The  art  and  literature  of  the  age. 


Topics  for  Assigned  Studies 

Prince  Henry  of  Portugal.  Beazley,  Prince  Henry  (Heroes). 
Stephens,  Portugal  (Nations),  Chap.  VII. 

Columbus.  Fiske,  Discovery  of America.  2  vols.  (Houghton.)  His 
difficulties  and  the  discovery,  I.,  Chap.  IV.  Toscannelli's  letter  to 
Columbus,  I.  356.  Winsor,  Columbus.  (Houghton.)  The  dis- 
covery, Chap.  IX.  Old  South,  Nos.  29,  33,  71.  Am.  Hist.  Leaf., 
No.  1. 


CHAPTER  III 

REVOLUTION  ATTEMPTED  IN  THE  GOVERNMENT  OF 
THE  CHURCH 

266.  The  Papacy  at  Avignon.  —  In  the  early  years  of  the  The  pontifi- 
fifteenth  century,  at  a  time  when  the  revival  of  learning  was  cate  of  Bom" 

.         ,     ,  .  .  r  i-rr  •  ia-C^  VIII., 

just  beginning,  events  of  a  very  different  sort  were  occurring   I294_I303. 
which  had  an  important  share  in  preparing  the  way  for  the 
great  religious  revolution  which  brought  the  age  of  the  Re- 
naissance to  an  end.     A  great  change  in  the  position  and 
character  of  the  papacy  had  been  brought  about  as  a  result 
of  the   quarrel  between  Boniface  VIII.  and  Philip  IV.  of 
France.    Boniface  entertained  the  highest  ideas  of  the  rights   See  his  bulls, 
and  duties  of  the  pope  in  the  world,  the  logical  conclusion  Gee  and 
of  the  position  created  by  the  great  popes,  Gregory  VII.   Henderson 
and  Innocent  III.,  but  he  found  that  decided  changes  had  432-437. 
taken  place  in  the  last  few  generations.      Strong  national 
governments  had  been  forming,  and  these  disputed  his  claims 
to  authority,  especially  those  of  France  and  England.     The 
conflict  with  France  was  a  bitter  one,  and  it  resulted  in  the 
death  of  Boniface.      Shortly  afterward  Philip  IV.  secured  The  removal 
the  election  of  a  French  pope,  and  persuaded  him  and  his  fol-   from  Rome 

i  •  •  ■  t  '■■•<• «  1  1  to  Avignon. 

lowers  in  succession  to  leave  the  city  of  Rome  and  to  take  up  Adams, 
their  residence  in  Avignon  on  the  Rhone,  where  they  came    civilization, 
almost  completely  under  the  influence  of  the  kings  of  France,   Chap*  XVI- 
with  the  result  to  make  the  other  states,  especially  those  that 
were  on  friendly  terms  with  France,  suspicious  of  the  mo- 
tives of  the  popes  and  reluctant  to  obey  them  as  formerly. 

There  was  another  result  also  of  this  change  of  residence 
which  was  no  less  important.     The  love  of  luxury  and  of 

2S3 


284 


Revolution  Attempted  [§§  267,  268 


The  growth 
of  luxury  in 
the  Church. 
Poole. 
Wycliffe, 
43-6o; 
Pastor, 
Popes,  I. 
58-75. 
See  the 
English 
statutes  of 
Provisors 
and  Praemu- 
nire, Gee 
and  Hardy, 
103, 1 12-125; 
Penn.  II., 
No.  5,  and 
declaration 
of  German 
Diet;  Hen- 
derson, 437. 

Popes  at 

Rome  and  at 

Avignon, 

1378.  Fisher, 

Church 

History, 

250-254 ; 

Poole, 

Wycliffe, 

126-130. 

The  effect  of 
the  schism. 
Pastor, 
Popes,  I. 
I38-I59- 


Reform  ideas 
growing 
more 
extreme. 


extravagant  ways  of  living  seems  to  have  grown  rapidly  in 
the  new  capital.  The  expenses  of  a  brilliant  court  were 
always  increasing,  and  new  methods  of  enlarging  the 
revenues  of  the  papacy  must  be  constantly  devised.  This 
produced  of  course  further  dissatisfaction  throughout  the 
Church.  Everywhere  men  began  to  feel  that  the  luxury  of 
the  clergy  was  opposed  to  the  real  simplicity  of  Christianity, 
and  the  demand  for  a  moral  reformation  in  head  and  mem- 
bers soon  made  itself  heard,  and  as  a  preliminary  step  to 
this  that  the  popes  should  return  to  Rome  as  the  divinely 
appointed  capital  of  the  Christian  world.  Petrarch  gives 
voice  to  this  demand  in  several  of  his  Italian  poems. 
Finally  in  1378  Gregory  XL,  under  the  especial  influence  of 
St.  Catherine  of  Sienna,  did  return  to  Rome. 

267.  The  Great  Schism.  —  On  his  death  there  was  much 
excitement  in  the  city.  The  people  demanded  the  election 
of  a  pope  who  would  remain  at  Rome,  and  Urban  VI.  was 
chosen.  But  the  French  cardinals  were  unwilling  to  give 
up  the  more  enjoyable  life  of  Avignon,  and,  asserting  that 
the  first  election  had  been  forced  by  the  mob,  they  elected 
another  pope,  who  took  up  his  residence  at  Avignon.  There 
were  thus  two  popes  at  once.  Each  one  claimed  to  be  the 
only  rightful  pope,  and  each  proclaimed  the  excommunica- 
tion and  deposition  of  the  other. 

Such  a  condition  of  things  was  violently  opposed  to  the  be- 
lief of  the  time  that  the  Church  must  be  one  and  undivided. 
The  people  of  the  West  were  obliged  'to  divide  themselves 
between  the  two  popes,  and  the  result  was  great  confusion 
and  uncertainty.  Governments  were  influenced  in  their 
obedience  mainly  by  political  reasons,  and  disputes  as  to 
rights  and  authority  were  of  constant  occurrence.  Naturally 
also  the  cost  of  maintaining  two  courts  was  greater  than  that 
of  one,  and  the  financial  burdens  kept  growing  heavier  and 
heavier. 

268.  The  Demand  for  Reform.  — The  demand  for  reform 
became  louder  and  louder.  The  university  of  Paris  took 
the  lead  in  efforts  to  heal  the  schism.     The  first  attempt  was 


§  269]        Wy cliff es  Attempt  at  Reformation 


285 


to  get  the  two  popes  to  resign  at  the  same  time,  to  leave 
the  way  open  for  the  election  of  a  single  pope  on  whom  all 
Europe  could  unite.  This  failed  through  the  fear  of  each 
pope  that  the  other  would  gain  some  advantage  over  him  in 
the  process.  Then  the  university  and  others  began  to  ad- 
vocate the  idea  that  a  general  council  as  representing  the 
whole  Church  would  have  a  right  to  depose  a  pope,  if  there 
were  any  sufficient  reason  for  such  a  step,  and  to  elect  an- 
other in  his  place. 

This  was  an  idea  full  of  danger  for  the  strong  monarchy 
of  the  popes  which  had  been  forming  in  the  Church  since 
very  early  in  its  history.  If  it  should  come  to  be  believed 
that  a  council  could  depose  a  pope  who  refused  to  resign, 
then  there  would  be  an  authority  in  the  Church  higher  than 
the  pope,  and  a  limited  monarchy  would  be  the  result. 
Just  at  present,  however,  there  seemed  to  be  no  other  way 
out  of  the  difficulty. 

In  1409  a  council  met  at  Pisa  which  had  been  called  by 
some  of  the  cardinals.  It  declared  both  the  popes  deposed 
and  elected  one  to  take  their  place,  who  took  the  name  of 
Alexander  V.  But  neither  of  the  other  popes  would  yield, 
and  as  each  had  still  some  adherents,  and  was  still  acknow- 
ledged by  a  part  of  the  Church,  while  the  rest  obeyed  the 
new  pope,  there  were  now  three  popes,  and  matters  were 
worse  than  ever. 

269.  Wycliffe's  Attempt  at  Reformation.  —  In  the  mean- 
time this  unsettling  of  old  beliefs  and  this  demand  for  a 
reformation  in  the  lives  of  the  clergy  had  been  favorable  to 
the  rise  here  and  there  of  parties  who  insisted  upon  more 
decisive  changes.  In  England  Wycliffe,  beginning  perhaps 
in  support  of  the  political  opposition  of  the  State  to  the 
pope  at  Avignon,  and  in  demanding  simpler  living  on  the 
part  of  the  clergy,  had  gone  on  to  attack  some  of  the  funda- 
mental beliefs  of  the  Catholic  Church,  to  insist  on  the  right 
of  every  one  to  read  the  Bible  in  English,  and  to  take, 
indeed,  almost  the  same  positions  as  the  Protestants  after- 
wards.    He  was  protected  by  the  duke  of  Lancaster  during 


Fisher, 

Christian 

Church, 

254-256; 

Poole, 

Wycliffe, 

131-137; 
Pastor, 
Popes,  I. 
76-83. 


The  danger 

to  the 

papacy. 

Alzog, 

Church 

History, 

922-926. 


II. 


The  council 
of  Pisa  in- 
creases the 
difficulty. 
Pastor, 
Popes,  I. 
178-191. 


Wycliffe's 
ideas. 
Wycliffe's 
New  Testa- 
ment, and 
books  from 
his  Old 
Testament, 
editions  of 
Skeat 
(Clarendon). 

Poole, 

Wycliffe, 
61-111 ; 
Social  Eng- 
land, II. 
157-172. 


286 


Revolution  Attempted  [§§  270,  271 


The  persecu- 
tion of  the 
Lollards. 
Gee  and 
Hardy,  no 
and  126-139. 


Wycliffe's 

ideas  carried 

to  Bohemia. 

Poole, 

Wycliffe, 

151-165; 

Alzog, 

Church 

History,  II. 

952-967. 


Religious 
and  political 
reform 
together. 


his  life,  so  that  the  Church  was  not  able  to  put  an  end  to  his 
teachings.  They  were  accepted  by  a  considerable  body  of 
people  in  England  who  are  known  as  Lollards,  and  some 
of  them  encouraged  the  peasants  in  their  insurrection  under 
Wat  Tyler,  though  this  was  not  intended  by  Wycliffe. 
When  the  house  of  Lancaster  came  to  the  throne  in  Eng- 
land it  no  longer  agreed  with  their  policy  to  protect  the 
Lollards,  and  in  the  persecution  which  followed  these  very 
soon  disappeared  as  a  party,  though  there  is  some  evidence 
that  their  teachings  were  cherished  among  the  common 
people  until  the  time  of  the  Protestant  reformation. 

270.  Huss  and  the  Hussites. — Although  the  Lollards 
were  destroyed  in  England,  the  teachings  of  Wycliffe  were 
carried  to  Bohemia,  and  there  gave  rise  to  a  new  demand 
for  great  changes,  and  to  a  violent  religious  and  racial 
civil  war.  At  the  time  of  Wycliffe  there  was  a  close  con- 
nection between  the  universities  of  Prague  and  Oxford,  and 
many  Bohemian  students  learned  the  doctrines  of  Wycliffe 
and  brought  his  books  home  with  them.  In  Bohemia  John 
Huss  became  the  leader  of  this  party  which,  like  Wycliffe's, 
was  almost  the  same  as  the  Protestant,  and  which  was 
rapidly  extended  by  the  ability  and  influence  of  Huss. 

There  was  at  that  time,  as  we  have  already  seen,  a  race 
conflict  going  on  in  Bohemia,  as  there  is  to-day,  a  part  of 
that  struggle  on  the  border  line  between  Slav  and  German 
which  runs  through  all  history.  In  the  mind  of  the  Bohe- 
mian the  party  of  Huss  and  of  reform  became  identical 
with  the  party  of  national  independence,  and  so  drew  to 
itself  a  powerful  national  support.  Wycliffe's  teachings 
were  formally  condemned  by  the  Church,  and  then  those 
of  Huss,  but  he  refused  to  recognize  the  authority  of  the 
Church  in  such  matters  and  publicly  burned  the  papal  bull 
as  did  Luther  afterwards. 

271.  The  Council  of  Constance.  —  This  was  the  situation, 
then,  in  the  Church  when  a  second  general  council  met. 
There  were  three  popes  contending  with  one  another ;  the 
Church   was    divided   between   them ;    there    was   a  loud 


§272] 


The  Council  and  Huss 


287 


demand  for  moral  and  financial  reforms  ;  and  the  Bohemian 
nation  in  open  opposition  to  the  pope  was  insisting  upon 
still  more  sweeping  changes.  There  was  surely  need  of  a 
great  council  if  ever.  It  was  called  first  through  the  influ- 
ence of  the  emperor  Sigismund,  the  temporal  head  of 
Christendom,  and  on  the  eve  of  the  meeting  of  the  council 
this  call  was  repeated  by  Gregory  XII.,  the  pope  at  Rome 
whom  the  Church  regards  as  the  one  legitimate  pope.  It 
was  a  large  and  brilliant  assemblage  which  met  at  Con- 
stance at  the  end  of  1414,  and  it  was  thoroughly  represen- 
tative of  the  Church  in  the  West. 

The  council  decided  that  its  first  duty  was  to  heal  the 
schism  and  give  to  the  Church  one  universally  acknowledged 
head.  It  secured  the  voluntary  abdication  of  Gregory  XII. 
The  other  two  popes,  who  refused  to  abdicate,  it  deposed, 
and  their  adherents  withdrew  their  obedience.  Then  with 
some  representatives  of  the  council  added  to  their  body  the 
cardinals  elected  a  new  pope,  Martin  V.,  and  the  division 
of  the  Church  was  at  an  end. 

272.  The  Council  and  Huss.  —  Before  this  work,  which 
occupied  many  months,  was  completed,  the  case  of  Huss 
had  been  taken  up  for  decision  by  the  council.  As  some 
of  his  teachings  were  clearly  in  opposition  to  the  accepted 
doctrines  of  the  Church,  and  as  he  refused  to  give  up  his 
right  of  deciding  for  himself  or  to  acknowledge  the  supreme 
authority  in  matters  of  belief  of  a  general  council  of  the 
Church,  he  was  condemned  and  burnt  as  a  heretic.  His 
friend  and  follower,  Jerome  of  Prague,  suffered  the  same 
fate.  But  the  Bohemians  refused  to  submit.  Some  efforts 
of  the  king  to  repress  the  national  movement  were  fol- 
lowed by  open  insurrection.  The  emperor  Sigismund,  who 
shortly  after  inherited  the  throne,  was  able  to  pacify  the 
country  only  after  long  years  of  bloody  war,  in  which  not 
merely  Bohemia,  but  neighboring  states  of  Germany,  suf- 
fered severely.  He  succeeded  in  the  end  only  by  impor- 
tant concessions  to  the  demands  of  the  Bohemian  reformers, 
which  were  made  with  the  consent  of  the  council  of  Basle. 


The  council 

of  Constance. 

1414-1418. 

Fisher, 

Church 

History, 

256-259 ; 

Poole, 
Wy  cliff e, 
144-150, 
166-170. 


The  Church 
united  under 
one  pope. 


Huss 
condemned. 


The  Hussites 

resist. 

See  p.  249. 

Alzog, 

Church 

History,  II. 

967-971. 


288 


Revolu  tion  A  t tempted 


[§273 


One  of  their  demands  which  was  allowed  them,  the  right  to 
receive  the  wine  as  well  as  the  bread  in  the  celebration  of  the 
mass,  had  given  a  name  to  their  party,  that  of  the  Utraquists 
or  Calixtines. 

273.  The  Council  fails  to  reform  Government  or  Conduct. 
—  In  the  matter  of  the  moral  and  financial  reform  of  the 
Church  the  council  of  Constance  did  not  succeed  so  well. 
The  rules  which  it  adopted,  it  had  no  means  of  enforcing, 
and  the  temptation  to  abuses  continued  too  strong  to  resist. 
The  most  important  regulation  which  it  passed  called  for 
the  meeting  of  other  general  councils  at  stated  intervals,  to 
exercise  a  general  supervision  of  the  government  of  the 
Church  as  a  supreme  legislative  body  representing  the  whole 
of  Christendom.  Had  this  regulation  been  carried  out  it 
would  have  changed  the  constitution  of  the  Church.  The 
pope  could  not  be  the  supreme  head  of  the  Church  under 
such  an  arrangement,  and  a  great  degree  of  national  inde- 
pendence and  perhaps  of  local  diversity  of  beliefs  and  forms 
would  have  been  easily  possible. 

The  papacy  recognized  the  danger  at  this  crisis  of  its 
history  and  skilfully  prevented  the  growth  of  a  system  of 
regular  councils.  The  council  of  Basle,  which  attempted  to 
carry  on  the  ideas  of  the  council  of  Constance,  ended  in 
ignominious  failure,  and  though  the  Church  of  France  suc- 
ceeded at  the  time,  in  the  Pragmatic  Sanction  of  Bourges, 
in  securing  considerable  national  independence,  the  process 
went  no  further.  The  reformation,  which  had  been  sought 
by  constitutional  means  within  the  Church,  was  to  come  a 
hundred  years  later,  but  it  was  to  succeed  only  by  means  of 
revolution  and  civil  conflict. 


Topics  289 

Topics 

What  were  the  events  which  led  to  the  removal  of  the  papacy  from 
Rome  to  Avignon?  What  was  the  effect  on  the  character  and  position 
of  the  papacy?  How  did  the  "great  schism ;'  arise?  How  did  the 
efforts  to  heal  the  schism  endanger  the  position  of  the  pope?  The 
result  of  the  council  of  Pisa.  What  were  the  reform  ideas  of  Wycliffe? 
The  fate  of  the  Lollards.  Where  were  Wycliffe's  ideas  carried  on? 
What  other  influence  strengthened  the  party  of  Huss?  What  did  the 
council  of  Constance  do  in  regard  to  the  schism?  In  regard  to  Huss? 
Why  did  it  not  succeed  in  reforming  the  Church? 

Topics  for  Assigned  Studies 

Wycliffe.  See  references  in  the  text.  Sergeant,  Wyclif.  (Heroes.) 
Alzog,  Church  History,  II.  947-952.  Gee  and  Hardy,  105-112. 
Wycliffe's  Septem  Hereses,  in  Pamphlet  Library,  Religious  Pam- 
phlets.    (Holt.)     Penn.  II.,  No.  5. 

The  council  of  Constance.  See  references  in  the  text.  Pastor,  Popes, 
I.  195-207.     Alzog,  II.  858-874.     Penn.  III.,  No.  6. 


CHAPTER    IV 


THE   POLITICAL  CHANGES   OF  THE  AGE 


Changes  of 
the  fifteenth 
century. 


274.  Politics  become  International.  — The  Protestant  revo- 
lution of  the  sixteenth  century  was  dependent  for  its  success 
upon  the  great  intellectual  changes  of  the  fifteenth  century, 
and  also  upon  the  long-continued  repression  and  failure  of 
earlier  attempts  at  reformation.  But  it  was  also  dependent 
in  no  small  degree  for  the  character  of  its  success  and  for 
its  geographical  distribution  upon  the  political  situation  of 
Europe  at  the  time.  The  last  half  of  the  fifteenth  century 
was  an  age  of  transformation  in  the  political  sphere  as  far 
reaching  as  any  of  the  other  changes  of  the  time.  It  is  the 
age  from  which  we  must  date  the  rise  of  modern  international 
politics,  the  rivalries  of  governments,  now  well  organized  and 
stable,  with  one  another  for  the  possessions  of  their  weaker 
neighbors,  for  conquests  at  the  expense  of  one  another,  and 
even  for  a  position  of  supremacy  in  Europe.  Such  rivalries 
had  been  of  course  foreshadowed  in  medieval  times,  when 
circumstances  allowed,  but  they  had  been  the  occasional  and 
not  the  ordinary  concern  of  the  governments.  In  the  last 
years  of  the  fifteenth  century  was  laid  the  foundation  for  the 
rivalry  between  France  and  the  house  of  Hapsburg  which 
lasted  for  centuries  and  involved  Europe  in  many  disastrous 
wars.  The  beginning  was  in  the  conflicting  claims  and 
interests  of  France  and  Spain. 

275.  The  Condition  of  France.  —  We  have  seen  how 
France  emerged  from  the  Hundred  Years'  War  with  England 
under  Charles  VII.  with  the  monarchy  almost  absolute,  and 
how  the  next  king,  Louis  XL,  defeated  the  efforts  of  the 

290 


§  276]  The  Creation  of  Spain  291 

great  nobles  and  princes  to  destroy  the  royal  authority,  as 
well  as  those  of  the  duke  of  Burgundy,  Charles  the  Bold,  to 
form  an  independent  kingdom  between  France  and  Germany. 
Louis  XI.  had  seen  clearly  enough  that  the  interests  of  France 
and  Spain  abroad  were  likely  to  lead  to  a  collision  between 
them.  In  his  efforts  to  watch  the  plans  of  Spain  and  to  pre- 
pare to  meet  them,  he  had  done  much  to  introduce  the 
machinery  of  modern  diplomacy,  especially  that  of  resident 
foreign  ministers.  But  the  domestic  problems  of  France 
were  still  so  pressing  during  his  reign,  there  was  still  so  much 
to  be  done  to  consolidate  both  the  kingdom  and  the  royal 
power,  that  he  was  not  free  to  throw  his  whole  strength  into 
a  foreign  war. 

276.    The  Creation  of  Spain.  —  The  same  thing  was  only  The  reign  of 
a  little  less  true  of  Ferdinand  of  Spain.     His  reign  was  much  Ferdinand, 
longer  than  that  of  Louis  and  continued  on  into  the  sixteenth   conquest 
century  and  the  time  of  open  war,  but  during  the  first  years   and  union, 
of  his  rule  he  was  occupied  with  the  same  problems  as  the 
king  of  France.     The  double  process  of  conquering  all  the 
territory  of  Spain  from  the  Moors  and  of  uniting  all  the  Chris- 
tian kingdoms  into  a  single  one,  which  had  been  going  on 
for  so  many  centuries,  was  to  be  completed.     In  1492,  the 
year  of  the  discovery  of  America,  the  last  Moorish  kingdom, 
Granada,  was  annexed.     Already  by  the  marriage  of  Ferdi- 
nand and  Isabella,  the  two  largest  Christians  states,  Castile 
and  Aragon,  had  been  brought  together.     Only  in  15 12  was 
Ferdinand  able  to  seize  the  Spanish  half  of  Navarre.     Por- 
tugal he  never  obtained,  though  he  laid  skilful  plans  through 
the  intermarriage  of  the  royal  families  to  bring  about  the 
union  in  time. 

In  the  other  direction,  in  his  efforts  to  form  a  centralized  Absolutism 
and  absolute  monarchy,  he  did  not  come  so  near  complete  created- 
success,  but  he  did  much  more  than  to  make  the  beginning. 
During  the  last  century  there  had  been  much  anarchy  in 
Spain.  Under  the  strong  government  of  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella  this  was  brought  to  a  speedy  end.  The  influence 
of  the  great  nobles  in  public   affairs  was   reduced.      The 


292 


Political  Changes  of  the  Age    [§§  277,  278 


The  policy  of 
Henry  VII. 
Green, 
English 


lawyers  were  called  in  to  take  their  place.  Their  castles 
were  destroyed  unless  they  served  the  national  defence. 
Many  robber  barons  were  severely  dealt  with.  The  sov- 
ereigns also  formed  a  virtual  alliance  with  the  league  of  the 
cities,  and  thus  secured  a  strong  support  against  the  nobles 
and  a  military  force  independent  of  the  feudal  levies  which 
proved  of  considerable  value  for  a  time,  as  in  the  conquest 
of  Granada.  Over  the  national  Church  of  Spain,  Ferdinand 
and  Isabella  also  secured  control  and  the  right  of  making 
nominations  to  its  higher  offices. 

277.  Result  of  Ferdinand's  Policy,  Remote  and  Immedi- 
ate. —  One  serious  mistake  of  policy  was  due  to  the  narrow- 
ness and  intolerance  of  the  age.  In  1492  all  the  Jews  who 
remained  faithful  to  their  religion  were  ordered  to  leave  the 
country.  They  were  very  numerous  in  Spain  and  added 
much  to  its  wealth.  A  little  later  the  unconverted  Moors 
of  Granada  were  expelled  in  the  same  way,  though  they  had 
made  a  garden  of  the  land.  These  were  hard  blows  struck 
at  the  economic  prosperity  of  Spain,  but  the  effects  were 
only  slowly  felt,  or  were  for  a  long  time  concealed  by  the 
artificial  sources  of  wealth  which  were  at  the  same  time 
opened  in  America. 

In  that  generation  Spain  suddenly  rose  from  a  group  of 
weak  and  unorganized  states  to  be  a  powerful  monarchy, 
and  the  first  aspirant  for  a  European  supremacy.  Ferdinand 
saw  clearly  that  France  would  be  the  most  dangerous  rival 
of  Spain  for  this  position,  and  the  chief  object  of  his  foreign 
policy  was  to  unite  the  interests  of  the  other  great  states  of 
Europe  with  those  of  Spain  and  so  to  combine  them  all 
against  France.  The  marriage  alliances  which  he  formed 
to  further  this  policy  with  England  and  the  house  of  Haps- 
burg  exercised  an  influence  over  later  history  such  as  few 
royal  marriages  have  done. 

278.  England.  —  In  England  the  third  quarter  of  the 
fifteenth  century  is  filled  with  the  Wars  of  the  Roses,  which 
closed  in  1485  with  the  coming  to  the  throne  of  Henry  VIII. 
of  the  house  of  Tudor,  who  united  the  warring  factions  by 


§§  279,  28°] 


Germany  —  Italy 


293 


his  marriage  with  Elizabeth  of  York,  daughter  of  Edward  IV. 
The  chief  object  of  his  reign  was  to  secure  the  permanent 
possession  of  the  crown  in  his  family,  and  it  was  more  this 
than  any  plans  of  active  interference  on  the  continent  that 
led  to  the  Spanish  marriage  which  was  to  prove  so  eventful 
in  the  history  of  England.  His  oldest  son,  Prince  Arthur, 
was  married  to  Catherine  of  Aragon,  the  daughter  of  Ferdi- 
nand and  Isabella,  and  on  his  death  soon  after  she  was 
married  again  to  Prince  Henry,  who  became  the  heir  to  the 
throne. 

279.  Germany.  —  Germany  remained  in  this  age  as  power- 
less as  before,  but  the  house  of  Hapsburg  was  rising  rapidly 
to  a  European  position.  Already  in  possession  of  extensive 
territories  in  southern  Germany  and  just  securing  hereditary 
possession  of  the  imperial  crown,  it  secured  in  two  genera- 
tions a  most  remarkable  extension  of  its  power  by  its  fortu- 
nate marriages.  Maximilian  I.  married,  in  1478,  Mary  of 
Burgundy,  daughter  and  heiress  of  Charles  the  Bold,  and 
thus  obtained  the  rich  provinces  of  the  Netherlands,  and 
their  son,  Philip,  married  Joanna,  daughter  of  Ferdinand 
and  Isabella.  By  these  two  marriages  all  the  great  domin- 
ions of  Charles  V.  were  brought  together,  and  the  idea  of  a 
world  empire  almost  realized. 

280.  Italy.  —  Italy  was  the  first  battlefield  of  the  rival 
powers,  the  scene  of  the  first  in  that  long  series  of  struggles 
for  supremacy  on  one  side  and  for  balance  of  power  on  the 
other  which  the  nineteenth  century  has  scarcely  seen  ended 
notwithstanding  the  rise  of  new  and  larger  interests.  Italy 
taken  by  itself  was  at  this  time  the  scene  of  a  conflict  for  a 
local  balance  of  power  which  was  in  miniature  like  that  of 
Europe.  It  was  still  divided  into  numerous  small  states, 
under  governments  of  widely  different  sorts,  and  intensely 
jealous  of  one  another.  These  states  maintained  little 
armies  of  professional  soldiers  commanded  by  adventurers, 
the  condottieri,  and  occasionally  engaged  in  wars,  which 
their  soldiers  had  a  way  of  making  not  very  bloody.  But 
if  possible  they  preferred  to  gain  their  ends  by  the  methods 


People,  II. 
67-77 ; 
Moberly, 
Early 
Tudors 
(Epochs) ; 
Gairdner, 
Henry  VII. 
(Macmillan). 
Foreign 
policy, 
Chap.  IX. 

The  house  of 

Hapsburg 

becomes 

a  European 

power. 

Leger, 

Austro- 

Hutigaryt 

2SI-255- 


The  scene  of 
division  and 
local  conflict. 
Johnson, 
Periods, 
7-14. 


294 


Political  Changes  of  the  Age 


[§281 


of  diplomacy  and  intrigue,  and  in  these  methods  Italy  was 
the  schoolmaster  of  Europe.  Machiavelli,  who  was  for  a 
long  time  the  representative  of  Florence,  was  one  of  the 
first  great  diplomatists  of  modern  history. 


The  Duomo,  Florence 


281 .  The  Five  Leading  States  of  Italy.  —  Five  states  of 
Italy  are  of  especial  interest  in  this  opening  period  of  inter- 
national politics.  Venice,  rich  and  powerful,  but  before 
the  close  of  the  age  to  undergo  the  ruin  of  her  commercial 
monopoly,  was  trying  to  form  a  continental  dominion  in 
northeastern  Italy,  and  so  was  intimately  concerned  in  the 


§282] 


France  begins  the  Struggle 


295 


course  of  local  politics.  In  Milan,  Ludovico  the  Moor  was 
plotting  to  secure  the  succession  in  place  of  his  nephew,  the 
rightful  duke,  and  so  was  anxious  for  any  outside  assistance 
possible.  Florence  was  under  the  Medici,  but  was  the  scene 
at  the  close  of  the  century  of  great  popular  excitement 
aroused  by  the  passionate  and  eloquent  preaching  of  Sav- 
onarola, who  proclaimed  a  great  religious  revival,  the  neces- 
sity of  righteous  living,  and  the  coming  of  the  foreign 
invader  as  the  scourge  of  God  upon  the  wicked,  and  de- 
manded the  restoration  of  political  liberty  to  Florence.  In 
the  States  of  the  Church  the  situation  was  especially  inter- 
esting. The  popes  of  the  last  part  of  the  fifteenth  century 
looked  upon  the  papacy  rather  as  an  opportunity  for  them- 
selves and  their  families  than  as  an  office  of  high  responsi- 
bility to  Christendom.  Alexander  VI.,  who  was  pope  at  the 
beginning  of  the  struggle  between  France  and  Spain,  is  an 
extreme  example  of  this  view  of  the  papal  office.  His 
ambition  was  to  build  up  in  central  Italy  out  of  the  lands  of 
the  Church  and  such  others  as  could  be  joined  to  them  a 
kingdom  in  the  permanent  possession  of  his  family,  strong 
enough,  it  might  be,  to  absorb  all  Italy  and  to  protect  it 
against  the  pretensions  of  the  foreigner.  This  he  almost  suc- 
ceeded in  doing.  Caesar  Borgia,  with  great  political  skill  but 
by  utterly  unscrupulous  and  criminal  means,  ably  seconded 
the  plans  of  his  father,  the  pope,  and  did  found  a  very 
promising  beginning  of  such  a  state,  only  to  see  it  break  to 
pieces  in  his  hands  on  the  death  of  his  father.  In  the  south 
the  kingdom  of  Naples,  or  the  continental  half  of  the  king- 
dom of  Sicily,  was  held  by  a  branch  of  the  house  of  Aragon, 
but  was  claimed  by  both  France  and  Spain  and  was  the 
immediate  object  of  their  rivalry. 

282.  France  begins  the  Struggle.  —  Before  Ferdinand 
of  Spain  was  ready  to  open  the  conflict  France  had  made 
the  first  move  under  the  young  and  visionary  Charles  VIIL, 
who  dreamed  of  restoring  the  Eastern  Empire  and  the  king- 
dom of  Jerusalem  by  driving  out  the  Turks,  and  who  hoped 
to  find  in  southern  Italy  a  base  of  operations  for  this  exten- 


Milan. 


Florence. 

Machiavelli, 

Hist,  of 

Florence 

(Bohn), 

Bk.  VIIL, 

Chap.  VII.; 

Armstrong, 

Lorenzo  de 

Medici 

(Heroes). 

The  States  of 
the  Church. 


Naples. 


The  reign  of 

Charles 

VIIL, 

1483-1498. 

Masson, 

MedicBval 

France, 

304-314; 
Zeller,  X. 


296 


Political  Changes  of  tlic  Age 


[§283 


sive  enterprise.  Charles  VIII.  had  succeeded  his  father 
Louis  XI.  at  the  age  of  thirteen.  His  elder  sister,  Anne  of 
Beaujeu,  had  acted  as  regent  with  great  ability  for  some 
years.  She  overcame  easily  an  insurrection  of  the  great 
nobles  led  by  the  duke  of  Orleans,  the  last  danger  of  the  sort 
which  threatened  the  crown  for  almost  a  hundred  years. 
She  defeated  an  attempt  of  the  Estates  General  to  recover 
something  of  their  lost  power,  and  finally  she  married  the 
young  king  to  the  heiress  of  the  duchy  of  Brittany,  the  last 
of  the  great  feudal  states  of  France  proper  which  had  not 
been  absorbed  in  the  crown. 

As  the  result  of  the  vigorous  policy  of  the  last  two  reigns, 
continued  by  his  sister,  Charles  VIII.  found  himself  at  lib- 
erty in  1494  to  employ  all  the  resources  of  France  in  assert- 
ing the  right  to  the  kingdom  of  Naples  which  he  had 
inherited  from  the  house  of  Anjou.  The  situation  in  Italy 
seemed  especially  favorable.  From  many  sides  came  invi- 
tations to  him  to  interfere.  Ludovico  the  Moor  hoped  to 
profit  from  any  change.  Savonarola  was  anxious  for  the 
appearance  of  the  "  scourge  of  God."  Enemies  of  the  Bor- 
gia family  wished  to  use  the  French  to  ruin  the  plans  of 
Alexander  VI. 

283.  The  First  Invasion  of  Italy.  —  Charles  crossed  the 
Alps  late  in  the  summer  at  the  head  of  a  brilliant  army,  with 
the  largest  train  of  artillery  which  had  up  to  that  time  ever  been 
brought  together.  His  success  was  rapid  and  complete. 
At  Milan  he  was  well  received,  and  soon  after  his  departure 
the  young  duke  died  of  an  opportune  fever.  Florence  did 
not  find  much  favor  at  his  hands,  for  he  gave  to  Pisa  its  lib- 
erty and  restored  to  power  the  Medici,  who  had  been  ex- 
pelled by  the  people  under  Savonarola's  lead.  At  Rome 
he  trained  his  cannon  on  the  castle  of  St.  Angelo,  forced 
the  pope  to  grant  him  the  investiture  of  Naples,  and  held 
Caesar  Borgia  for  a  time  as  a  hostage  for  his  father.  Na- 
ples fell  into  his  hands  without  a  battle,  and  he  assumed 
there  the  imperial  insignia  and  called  himself  king  of 
Jerusalem. 


§  285]    Rapid  Changes  in  the  Italian  Situation        297 


The  fate  of  his  expedition  is  typical  of  that  of  all  the 
French  expeditions  of  the  period.  Speedy  successes  were 
followed  by  just  as  speedy  a  reaction  and  the  loss  of  all. 
Italy  rose  behind  his  army.  The  pope,  Venice,  and  Milan 
formed  a  league  against  him,  with  the  support  of  Maximilian 
of  Austria  and  Ferdinand  of  Spain.  The  king's  army  cut 
its  way  through  to  France,  but  the  force  which  had  been 
left  to  hold  Naples  was  driven  out  at  once,  and  nothing 
remained  of  the  conquest  so  easily  made. 

284.  A  New  French  Claim  on  Italy.  —  Charles  VIII.  was 
killed  by  an  accident  before  he  was  able  to  repeat  the  at- 
tempt, and  was  succeeded  by  his  cousin,  Louis  XII.  Louis 
had  a  new  interest  in  Italy,  for  through  his  grandmother  he 
claimed  the  rights  of  the  Visconti  family  to  the  duchy  of 
Milan.  It  was  the  attempt  of  Louis  XII.  to  assert  his  rights 
in  northern  and  southern  Italy  that  brought  the  great  powers 
of  the  world  together  for  the  first  time  in  combinations  and 
wars  to  maintain  the  balance  of  power. 

The  new  king  began  the  undertaking  at  once.  Milan  was 
quickly  overrun,  and  Ludovico  the  Moor  died  soon  after  in 
prison.  Then  an  arrangement  was  made  with  Ferdinand 
the  Catholic  for  a  division  of  Naples.  The  French  army 
did  the  work  of  conquering  the  country,  and  in  as  short  a 
time  as  on  the  invasion  of  Charles  VIII.  But  Louis  was 
no  match  for  Ferdinand  in  promising  one  thing  and  intend- 
ing another.  The  Spanish  suddenly  claimed  the  whole,  and 
though  the  French  fought  for  their  share,  they  could  not 
keep  it. 

285.  Rapid  Changes  in  the  Italian  Situation.  —  Milan  was 
not  held  much  longer,  but  its  loss  illustrates  the  rapid  turns 
of  Italian  politics.  In  1503  Alexander  VI.  died  and  was 
succeeded  by  Julius  II.,  who  was  hostile  to  the  Borgia  family, 
and  whose  great  ambition  was  to  form  the  papal  states  into 
a  strong  monarchy,  which  he  finally  accomplished.  These 
plans  brought  him  into  conflict  with  the  Venetians,  who  had 
occupied  some  of  the  papal  lands,  and  who  also  held  some 
territories  belonging  to  the  duchy  of  Milan.     Julius  easily 


Failure  as 

rapidly 

follows. 


Louis  XII. 
1498-1515. 
Johnson, 
Periods, 

33-541 
Masson, 
Mediaval 
France, 

3I4-32S; 
Zeller,  XI. 


Conquest  of 
Milan  and 
Naples. 


Louis  XII. 

the  victim  of 

the  papal 

policy. 

Johnson, 

Periods, 

54-78. 


298 


Political  Changes  of  the  Age 


[§286 


Elements  of 
weakness  in 
the  empire  of 
Charles  V. 


formed  the  league  of  Cambray  with  France  and  Austria  to 
humble  Venice.  Louis  XII.  again  did  the  fighting,  only  to 
find,  after  the  Venetians  had  submitted,  that  the  tables  were 
turned  against  him  once  more,  for  the  pope  formed  the  Holy 
League  as  soon  as  the  French  seemed  too  powerful  in  Italy. 
Venice,  Spain,  England,  and  Austria  united  with  him.  The 
French  were  beaten  in  Italy,  and  the  Sforza  family  returned 
to  Milan,  while  Ferdinand  seized  Navarre,  and  Henry  VIII. 
invaded  France,  where  he  won  the  somewhat  absurd  Battle 
of  the  Spurs.  Louis  was  compelled  to  yield,  and  to  give  up 
his  claims  upon  Italy. 

286.  The  Dominions  of  Charles  V.  —  Louis  XII.  died 
within  a  few  weeks  of  this  treaty,  and  the  next  years  saw 
a  great  change  in  Europe.  The  thrones  of  Spain  and  the 
Empire  became  vacant  and  were  united  in  the  possession  of 
Charles  V.,  the  grandson  of  both  Ferdinand  and  Maximilian, 
who  held  at  the  same  time  the  Netherlands,  the  Two  Sici- 
lies, and  America.  The  idea  of  a  world  monarchy,  which 
Christendom  had  so  long  cherished,  and  the  plans  of  Ferdi- 
nand the  Catholic  for  European  supremacy  seemed  about 
to  be  realized  together.  In  reality  the  conditions  were  pre- 
pared for  a  long  and  evenly  balanced  conflict.  The  three 
strongest  states  of  Europe  were  ruled  by  young,  able,  and 
intensely  ambitious  sovereigns,  —  Henry  VIII.  of  England, 
Francis  I.  of  France,  and  Charles  V.,  —  and  the  Protestant 
reformation  was  just  beginning. 

On  the  map  of  Europe  the  dominions  of  Charles  V.  seemed 
like  a  reconstruction  of  the  Roman  Empire,  but  their  real 
was  far  less  than  their  apparent  strength.  They  were 
widely  separated  from  one  another,  and  it  was  not  easy  to 
maintain  secure  communication  between  them  in  time  of 
war.  Germany  was  sharply  divided  into  two  hostile  parties 
and  constantly  on  the  verge  of  civil  war.  The  title  of  Em- 
peror was  a  great  dignity,  but  Charles  V.  would  have  been 
stronger  against  his  enemies  if  he  had  possessed  the  terri- 
tories of  Austria  and  left  the  Empire  to  some  one  else. 
That  he  had  Austria,  indeed,  brought  against  him  one  most 


§  2%7~\    The  Imperial  Election  and  its  Results       299 

dangerous  enemy ;  for  the  Turks,  now  for  more  than  half  a 
century  in  possession  of  Constantinople,  had  already  begun 
to  push  up  the  Danube  valley,  and  the  defence  of  central 
Europe  against  their  victorious  advance  must  make  its  last 
and  most  desperate  stand  around   Vienna.     On  the  other 


The  Emperor  Charles  V. 

hand,  France  held  all  its  strength  and  resources  closely 
concentrated  in  the  hands  of  its  king,  and,  in  the  actual 
condition  of  things,  she  was  an  even  match  for  the  power  of 
Charles  V.,  which  seemed  so  much  greater. 

287.    The  Imperial  Election  and  its  Results.  —  On  the  Three  rivals 
death  of  Maximilian  I.,  in  15 19,  the  three  young  kings  of  j^aen 
England,  France,  and  Spain  were  rivals  for  the  election  to  crown. 


30o 


Political  Changes  of  the  Age 


[§288 


Johnson, 
Periods, 
129-137 ", 
Seebohm, 
Revolution, 
103-106 ; 
Hausser, 
Reformation, 
32-41;  Jans- 
sen,   German 
People,  II. 
263-284. 

The  danger 
to  France. 


More  than 
two  centuries 
of  rivalry 
between 
France  and 
Austria. 


Francis  I.  in 
Italy,  and  the 
results  for 
France. 
Kitchin, 
France,  II. 
175-183; 
Zeller,  XII. 


the  imperial  crown.  The  German  princes  did  not  fully 
trust  any  one  of  them,  and  would  have  preferred  to  elect 
one  of  their  own  number,  Frederick  the  Wise  of  Saxony, 
the  sovereign  of  Luther,  but  he  thought  himself  too  old  or 
was  too  wise  to  accept  so  heavy  an  honor  in  such  perilous 
times.  The  election  was  then  made  in  favor  of  Charles  of 
Spain,  who  became,  as  Emperor,  Charles  V. 

This  election  meant  of  course  war  between  Charles  and 
Francis.  It  would  have  meant  war  if  Francis  had  been 
elected.  But  as  things  were,  the  situation  might  well  seem 
to  threaten  the  existence  or  at  least  the  unity  of  France. 
The  dominions  of  Charles  extended  along  its  whole  fron- 
tier, both  east  and  south.  The  duchies  of  Brittany  and 
Burgundy  had  been  only  lately  annexed,  and  Ferdinand  had 
at  one  time  forced  Louis  XII.  to  agree  to  give  them  up. 
Henry  VIII.  had  still  some  hopes  of  recovering  the  old  Eng- 
lish possessions  in  France.  In  Italy  the  conflicting  claims  of 
the  two  sovereigns  would  have  led  to  war  even  if  the  greater 
rivalry  of  European  position  had  not  existed.  This  war 
was  the  first  stage  in  the  conflict  between  France  and  the 
house  of  Hapsburg  which  dominates  all  the  international 
politics  of  Europe  from  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  to 
the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  which  has  affected 
so  disastrously  the  position  of  both  powers  in  the  world  of 
to-day.  For  Charles  and  Francis  the  immediate  object  of 
contention  was  Italy. 

288.  France  still  seeks  Dominion  in  Italy.  —  Already, 
immediately  on  his  accession  in  15 15,  Francis  I.  had  taken 
up  the  plans  which  Louis  XII.  had  given  up  in  discourage- 
ment. He  had  invaded  Italy  with  a  splendid  army,  beaten 
the  fine  infantry  of  the  Swiss,  who  were  in  the  service  of  the 
duke  of  Milan,  in  the  great  battle  of  Marignano,  and  at 
once  occupied  Milan.  Francis  was  now  completely  master 
of  northern  Italy,  but  his  victory  had  given  him  other  ad- 
vantages of  great  importance  in  the  history  of  France. 
With  the  Swiss  he  made  the  so-called  "  Perpetual  Peace," 
by  which  their  soldiers  entered  the  service  of  France.     It 


§  288]      France  still  seeks  Dominion  in  Italy         301 

was  perpetual  until  the  French  Revolution  destroyed  it  with 

almost  all  other  existing  arrangements.     With  the  pope  he 

made  a  concordat   by   which    the    Pragmatic    Sanction    of 

Bourges  was  so  modified  that  the  control  of  the  French 

Church  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  king.     This  was  the 

foundation  of  the  later  "  liberties  of  the  Gallican  Church." 

This  was  the  situation  in  Italy  at  the  imperial  election  in  The  begin- 

iciq.     But  in  the  meantime  a  series  of  events  of  another  ni"gJij*new 
J    '  complica- 

sort  had  begun  and  was  proceeding  rapidly  in  Germany,  tion. 
which  introduced  a  new  complication.  The  demand  for  a 
reformation  in  the  Church,  which  had  now  been  making 
itself  heard  for  two  hundred  years,  had  found  a  new  leader, 
and  in  his  hands,  as  in  the  case  of  Wycliffe  and  of  Huss,  the 
movement  was  not  confining  itself  to  a  demand  for  the 
reform  of  abuses,  but  was  going  on  to  attack  some  of 
the  doctrines  held  most  fundamental  by  the  Church.  The 
attack  in  this  case,  however,  was  far  more  dangerous  than 
those  of  a  hundred  years  before. 


Topics 

The  rise  of  international  politics.  What  kept  Louis  XI.  occupied 
in  France?  How  was  Spain  created  geographically  ?  What  changes 
in  government  were  made  by  Ferdinand?  His  foreign  policy.  Re- 
sults of  his  reign  for  Spain.  The  policy  of  Henry  VII.  The  two  great 
marriages  in  the  house  of  Hapsburg,  and  their  results.  Why  was  Italy 
the  object  of  contention  among  the  great  powers?  Its  leading  states. 
How  was  the  struggle  for  Italy  opened?  The  invasion  of  Charles  VIII. 
Louis  XII.'s  new  claim  and  his  invasion.  The  policy  of  Julius  II. 
What  dominions  were  united  under  Charles  V.,  and  how  did  each 
come  to  him?  Why  was  his  empire  less  strong  than  it  seemed?  The 
election  to  the  Roman  Empire  in  15 19.  How  was  the  position  of 
Charles  V.  a  danger  to  France?  What  did  Francis  I.  accomplish  by 
his  first  invasion  of  Italy? 

Topics  for  Assigned  Studies 

Louis  XL  of  France.  See  references  on  p.  233.  Commines,  Memoirs. 
(Bohn.)  Character  of  Louis,  Chaps.  X.-XIII.  Zeller,  IX. 
Willert,    Reign   of  Louis   XI.     (Rivington.)     Kirk,    Charles  the 


302 


The  Genealogy  of  Charles    V. 


Bold.  3  vols.  (Lippincott.)  Louis  at  Peronne,  Willert,  131- 
139.  Commines,  Book  II.,  Chaps.  VII.-IX. 
Ferdinand  in  Spain.  Burke,  History  of  Spain.  Vol.11.  (Longmans.) 
Mariejol,  VEspagne  sous  Ferdinand  et  Isabelle.  (Paris.)  Pres- 
cott,  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  I.,  Chap.  VI.  Johnson,  Periods, 
91-106. 


Austria. 

Maximilian  I. 
d.  1519. 


The  Genealogy  of  Charlea  V 

The  Netherlands    Aragon  and  the         Castile  and 
and  Burgundy.        Two  Sicilies.  America. 


=  Mary,  d.  1482. 


Ferdinand  VII. 
d.  1516. 


Isabella,  d.  1504. 


Philip,  d.  1506. 


Called  Philip  I.  of  Spain, 
after  the  death  of  Isabella. 


Charles  V., 
d.  i«8. 

Philip  II., 
d.  1598. 


=      Joanna,        Catherine  of 
the  mad  queen,      Aragon, 
d.  1555.     m.  Henry  VI 1 1. 


Ferdinand  I., 
d.  1564. 


The  Austrian 
Hapsburgs. 


The  Spanish  Hapsburgs. 


CHAPTER  V 


THE   REFORMATION   OF   LUTHER 


289.  Luther's  Theological  Beliefs. —  Luther  had  been  led 
by  a  most  earnest  religious  spirit  to  give  up  the  study  of 
the  law  and  to  become  a  monk.  In  the  cloister  he  had 
been  led  by  a  strong  philosophical  tendency  of  mind  to 
examine  most  carefully  the  foundations  of  theological  belief. 
As  a  result  he  had  adopted  the  system  of  St.  Augustine,  the 
patron  saint  of  the  order  of  friars  which  he  had  entered. 
To  Luther  the  doctrine  of  "justification  by  faith"  seemed 
to  be  the  corner  stone  of  this  system,  and  this  doctrine, 
most  earnestly  and  intensely  held,  seemed  to  call  upon  him 
to  cry  out  against  one  of  the  greatest  abuses  of  the  time. 
This  was  the  preaching  which  frequently  accompanied  the 
sale  of  indulgences,  and  which  was  often  an  abuse  also  in 
the  sight  of  the  current  theology  of  the  Church. 

290.  Indulgences.  — A  letter  of  indulgence  was  a  written 
document,  granted  by  some  one  in  authority  in  the  Church, 
by  which,  in  view  of  some  pious  act,  the  temporal  penalties 
of  sin  were  said  to  be  remitted  or  changed  in  character  in 
favor  of  the  holder.  The  letter  itself,  which  was  written  in 
Latin  as  an  official  document  of  the  Church,  stated  that  the 
remission  was  of  no  avail  without  due  repentance  and  for- 
saking of  sin.  For  three  centuries  or  more,  it  had  been 
customary  in  the  Church  to  grant  these  letters  in  return  for 
donations  of  money  to  be  applied  to  charitable  uses  or  to 
advance  the  interests  of  the  Church,  on  the  theory  that  the 
gift  of  alms  was  a  pious  act  which  might  take  the  place  of 
penance   in    other   forms.      Of  course   such   a   source   of 

303 


Justification 

by  faith. 

Kostlin, 

Luther, 

28-56; 

Adams, 

Civilization, 

426-433. 


What  an 
indulgence 
was.    See 
translation  of 
an  indul- 
gence of 

1454  in 
Scribners 
Monthly, 
XII.  80 
(May,  1876). 


304 


The  Reformation  of  Luther 


[§291 


Popular 
misconcep- 
tion of 
indulgences. 


Chaucer's 
Prologue, 
lines 
669-714. 

The  ninety- 
five  theses 
concerning 
indulgences. 


Intellectual 
preparation 
for  revolt. 


revenue  was  a  great  temptation,  and  subject  to  glaring 
abuse  in  times  of  general  moral  decline,  and  in  later  times 
the  granting  of  indulgences  in  return  for  donations  of  money 
has  been  discountenanced  or  forbidden  by  the  Church. 

It  is  certain  that  the  practice  was  popularly  very  much 
misunderstood.  Few  could  read  the  language  in  which  the 
letter  was  written.  The  ignorant  thought  that  the  payment 
of  money  was  all  that  was  required,  and  also  that  they  could 
in  this  way  escape  the  eternal  as  well  as  the  temporal  penal- 
ties of  sin.  Whether  the  preaching  of  Tetzel,  who  was 
selling  indulgences  in  the  neighborhood  of  Wittenberg, 
encouraged  these  misconceptions  or  not  is  a  matter  of 
doubt ;  but  if  he  was  not  one,  there  certainly  were  many 
unscrupulous  agents  who  took  every  advantage  they  could 
of  the  popular  belief,  as  Chaucer  seems  to  have  thought 
when  he  wrote  the  "  Canterbury  Tales  "  in  Wycliffe's  time. 

291.  Luther  posts  his  Theses.  —  In  October,  15 17,  fol- 
lowing a  university  custom,  Luther  published  a  general 
challenge  to  debate  on  the  subject  of  indulgences  by  post- 
ing on  the  door  of  the  castle  church  in  Wittenberg,  ninety- 
five  theses,  or  propositions,  which  he  offered  to  defend 
against  all  comers.  In  these  theses  he  attacked  the  abuses 
and  proclaimed  what  he  believed  to  be  the  true  doctrine. 
They  were  written  in  Latin  and  were  addressed  to  the  univer- 
sity world,  but  within  two  weeks  they  had  been  made  known  to 
all  Germany.  The  current  of  discontent  with  the  moral  and 
financial  wrongs  which  the  masses  believed  they  were  suffer- 
ing from  those  who  had  control  of  the  government  of  the 
Church  had  been  so  long  held  back  that  when  the  way  was 
opened  its  depth  and  strength  surprised  the  world. 

The  intellectual  changes  which  had  taken  place  by  this 
time  were  also  a  preparation  for  a  widespread  revolt  against 
the  Catholic  Church.  Not  only  had  men  acquired  the  habit 
of  questioning  authority  and  of  looking  upon  old  beliefs  with 
doubt,  but  also  they  had  grown  accustomed  to  intellectual 
independence  and  to  new  and  strange  ideas.  The  progress 
of  classical  learning,  also,  especially  in  the  work  which  Eras- 


Martin  Luther 


3o6 


The  Reformation  of  Luther 


[§292 


Luther  at 
first  intends 
no  revolu- 
tion. 
Kostlin, 
Luther, 

95-149; 
Johnson, 
Periods, 
153-157. 


The  real 
question  was 
authority  or 
private 
judgment 


The  steps  of 

Luther's 

progress. 


The  declara- 
tion of  war. 


mus  had  done,  had  furnished  the  reformers  in  easily  acces- 
sible shape  the  material  for  attacking  the  historical  claims 
of  the  papacy. 

292.  Luther  gradually  led  to  Open  Rebellion.  —  Still 
Luther  was  himself  surprised  by  the  effect  which  the  publi- 
cation of  his  theses  had  produced.  He  had  up  to  this  time 
intended  no  revolt  against  the  Church,  and  he  was  for  a  long 
time  unconscious  of  the  result  towards  which  things  were 
tending.  Gradually  he  was  led  on  by  the  skilful  attacks 
which  were  made  on  the  weak  points  of  the  theses  to  take 
one  position  after  another  until  he  found  himself  in  open 
rebellion. 

The  real  test  question,  and  that  which  led  to  the  final 
breach,  was  that  of  the  infallible  authority  of  the  Church  and 
of  the  pope.  The  doctrine  of  the  infallibility  of  the  pope 
was  not  at  that  time  formally  held  by  the  Church,  though 
it  was  practically  the  belief  of  a  great  many  churchmen,  but 
it  was  universally  held  that  the  Church  was  infallible  when 
speaking  through  a  general  council,  like  that  which  had 
condemned  John  Huss.  Luther  would  no  doubt  have 
agreed  to  this  at  the  time  he  posted  the  theses. 

On  this  question  Luther  was  by  degrees  forced  along  to 
a  position  of  complete  opposition  to  the  Church.  First, 
in  the  year  after  the  posting  of  the  theses,  in  a  conference 
with  a  legate  sent  by  the  pope  to  quiet  if  possible  the  com- 
motion which  had  arisen  in  Germany,  he  asserted  that  the 
pope  might  be  in  error  and  that  he  would  be  if  he  was  not 
in  accord  with  the  Bible.  Second,  as  the  result  of  a  great 
debate  at  Leipsic  with  Dr.  Eck,  he  was  forced  to  admit 
that  a  general  council  of  the  Church  could  make  a  wrong 
decision  and  that  one  had  actually  done  so  when  Huss  was 
condemned.  This  was  in  the  year  in  which  Charles  V.  was 
elected  emperor. 

In  the  summer  of  the  next  year,  the  pope,  Leo  X.,  issued 
a  bull  in  which  he  announced  that  Luther  would  be  excom- 
municated if  by  the  middle  of  the  next  winter  he  had  not 
confessed  his  errors  and  become  reconciled  to  the  Church. 


§§  293?  294]  The  Diet  of  Worms  307 

This  was  the  bull  which  Luther  publicly  burned  in  Witten- 
berg in  December  of  1520.  This  act  was  a  kind  of  open 
declaration  of  war,  but  it  did  not  make  Luther  any  more 
of  a  rebel  against  the  authority  of  the  Church  than  his 
earlier  declarations  had  done. 

293.  The  Protestant  Position  in  Regard  to  Authority.  —  The  actual 
In  taking  this  stand  against  the  infallibility  of  the  Church,   fnd  th,e 

xi  ?•   1  •  i  -,  1  •  r  •      r    ,,.,   ,  logical  pOSl- 

Luther  did  not  intend  to  deny  the  existence  of  an  infallible  tion  in 
authority  in  matters  of  religion.     He,  and  most  of  the  early  conflict  for 
Protestants,  believed  that  the  absolute  truth  could  be  known  seeAdam 
and  declared  by  the  body  of  true  believers,  though  the   civilization, 
actual  position  in  which  they  stood  with  reference  to  the  439.  n.  1. 
Catholic  Church  was   inconsistent  with   this  belief.     What 
they  really  asserted  in  that  position  was  the  right  of  any  one 
man  to  determine  for  himself  what  is  the  truth,  under  his 
responsibility   to   God   alone.      Practically   the   Protestant 
world  acted  on  this  principle,  for  it  divided  into  many  parties 
on  questions  of  theology  and  interpretation,  and  it  has  con- 
tinued divided  ever  since.     At  first  most  of  these  parties 
were  bitterly  hostile  to  one  another  because  they  thought 
their  differences  so  very  important.     Recently  they  have 
come  very  generally  to  recognize  the  fact  that  the  points 
of  likeness  are  more  numerous  and  important  than  those 
of  difference,  and  to  act  accordingly. 

294.  The  Diet  of  Worms.  —  The  first  Diet  of  the  Empire   Charles  v. 
under  the  new  emperor,  Charles  V.,  was  summoned  for  the  rea,Iy  con~ 
spring  of  152 1.     Germany  hoped  that  here  would  be  settled  the  intei7 
many  questions  of  political  as  well  as  of  religious  reform,  but  national 
the  result  was  disappointing.     In  truth,  Charles  was  not  able  ^^  ^n 
to  look  at  German  questions  purely  from  the  German  point  politics  on 
of  view.     The  general  interests  of  his  wide  dominions  were  t|ie  Reforma- 
always  in  his  mind,  and  this  must  be  remembered  in  order   Ranke*6 

to  understand   his  relation   to   the   Reformation.     At   the  Popes, 
time  of  the  meeting  of  the   Diet  of  Worms,  the  difficulty  1?°^' 
which  seemed  the  most  pressing  was  the  position  of  the  chap.'ni. 
French  in  northern  Italy,  which  Francis  I.  was  still  holding. 
To  the  pope  this  was  an  equal  danger.     For  the  moment 


3o8 


TJic  Reformation  of  Lutlicr 


[§295 


Luther 
before  the 
Diet,  1521. 


Charles  V. 
personally 
opposed  to 
Protestant- 
ism. 


War  makes 
five  years' 
delay. 


pope  and  emperor  each  had  need  of  the  other,  and  their 
desires  and  interests  were  in  harmony  with  reference  both 
to  Germany  and  to  Italy. 

Luther  was  summoned  to  the  Diet  under  a  safe-conduct, 
and  had  no  hesitation  in  going,  though  his  friends  feared 
for  his  safety.  At  the  Diet,  when  called  on  to  acknowledge 
the  opinions  which  he  had  taught,  he  asked  for  a  day's  de- 
lay, and  then  boldly  reaffirmed  his  position,  saying  that  he 
could  not  do  otherwise.  The  sentence  of  the  Diet  placed 
Luther  under  the  ban  of  the  Empire  and  ordered  his  books 
to  be  destroyed.  On  his  return  from  Worms,  Luther  dis- 
appeared, having  been  secretly  carried  by  his  friends  to 
the  castle  of  the  Wart  burg,  near  Eisenach.  Here  he  re- 
mained nearly  a  year,  writing  and  translating  the  New 
Testament. 

295.  No  Opportunity  to  enforce  the  Edict  of  the  Diet. — 
This  decision  of  the  Diet  against  Luther,  though  the  result  of 
an  understanding  between  Charles  and  the  pope,  was  not 
opposed  to  the  real  opinion  of  Charles.  He  never  had  any 
sympathy  with  Luther's  ideas,  and  if  his  hands  had  been 
free  to  do  as  he  would  have  liked  in  Germany,  he  would 
have  put  an  end  to  the  Reformation  by  force.  The  new 
teachings  owed  their  long  freedom  from  attack  and  the  op- 
portunity which  they  had  to  spread  and  strengthen  them- 
selves in  Germany  to  the  political  difficulties  in  which 
Charles  was  involved  elsewhere. 

It  was  five  years  after  the  Diet  of  Worms  before  the  em- 
peror came  to  a  time  when  he  even  thought  that  he  could 
take  decisive  measures  against  heresy  in  Germany.  War 
had  begun  between  him  and  Francis  I.  in  the  spring  of 
1521.  Towards  the  end  of  the  summer  the  troops  of  the 
emperor  and  the  pope  drove  the  French  out  of  Milan.  In 
the  spring  of  the  next  year  Henry  VIII.  of  England  declared 
war  against  France,  and  in  the  same  year  Charles  of  Bour- 
bon, constable  of  France,  a  relative  of  the  king's,  and  the 
most  powerful  noble  of  France,  made  angry  by  a  dispute 
over  an  inheritance,  joined  Charles  and  Henry  in  war  upon 


3io 


The  Reformation  of  Luther 


296-298 


The  French 
lose  and 
recover 
Milan. 
Johnson, 
Periods, 
172-176 ; 
Kitchin, 
France,  II. 
191  ff. 


Francis  I. 
captured  by 
the  Spanish. 
Kitchin, 
France,  II. 
199  ff. 

Charles  V. 

demands 

too  much. 

Johnson, 

Periods, 

181-184; 

Hausser, 

Reformation, 

106-112. 


The 

emperor's 
plans 
against 
heresy  inter- 
rupted. 


Francis  and  in  a  project  to  partition  his  kingdom  among 
them. 

296.  Events  in  Italy.  —  It  would  seem  as  if  the  odds 
were  entirely  against  France,  but  the  allies  accomplished 
nothing  in  proportion  to  their  strength.  The  French  were 
indeed  driven  entirely  from  Italy,  with  the  death  of  the 
Chevalier  Bayard,  one  of  the  last  and  finest  products  of  the 
age  of  chivalry,  but  an  attempt  to  carry  the  war  into  south- 
ern France  by  Charles  of  Bourbon  was  not  successful.  He 
was  forced  to  retreat  before  a  great  army  with  which  Francis 
now  advanced.  By  a  skilful  march  the  French  passed  by 
their  enemies,  appeared  suddenly  before  Milan,  and  forced 
the  Spanish  garrison  to  abandon  the  city  without  a  blow. 

This  was  a  good  beginning  for  the  recovery  of  Italy,  but 
the  French  success  went  no  farther.  Francis  began  the 
siege  of  Pavia.  Bourbon  advanced  against  him  with  a  large 
army,  and  in  the  battle  which  followed  the  French  were 
totally  defeated  and  the  king  was  taken  prisoner. 

297.  The  Treaty  of  Madrid. — The  battle  of  Pavia  was 
in  February,  1525.  For  nearly  a  year  Francis  remained  a 
prisoner  in  the  hands  of  Charles.  The  terms  which  the 
emperor  demanded  for  his  release  were  so  high  that  Fran- 
cis could  not  bring  himself  to  consent  to  them.  At  last, 
worn  out  with  his  confinement  and  seeing  no  prospect  of 
any  more  favorable  terms,  Francis  yielded  and  agreed  to 
the  demands  of  Charles.  The  treaty  of  Madrid  was  signed 
in  January,  1526.  Francis  engaged  to  abandon  all  his 
claims  in  Italy,  and  to  surrender  Burgundy,  Flanders,  and 
Artois  to  the  emperor.  Had  Charles  been  satisfied  with 
reasonable  conditions,  he  might  have  secured  their  fulfil- 
ment, but  as  it  was  Francis  had  no  intention  of  keeping 
the  treaty. 

298.  Enforcement  of  the  Edict  again  Prevented.  —  For 
the  moment,  however,  Charles  thought  that  all  opposition  to 
him  in  Europe  was  at  an  end,  and  he  immediately  sent  word 
to  Germany  that  he  should  take  measures  at  once  for  the 
suppression  of  heresy.     Before  he  could  do  this  he  became 


§  299l      Peace  between  France  and  Charles  V.       3 1 


aware  that  the  situation  of  things  in  Europe  had  decidedly 
changed.  The  pope,  —  now  Clement  VII.,  one  of  the 
Medici,  and  greatly  interested  in  Italian  politics,  —  the 
Venetians,  and  Francis  I.  had  formed  a  league  against  him, 
and  war  was  about  to  begin. 

To  meet  this  new  combination  Charles  would  need  all  his 
resources,  and  could  not  afford  to  run  the  risk  of  a  civil  war 
in  Germany.  In  consequence  the  Diet  of  Speyer,  which 
met  in  June  of  1526,  instead  of  renewing  the  edict  of  the 
Diet  of  Worms,  declared  that  each  state  might  conduct  itself 
in  regard  to  the  religious  question  as  it  "  thought  it  could 
answer  to  God  and  to  the  Emperor."  This  meant  that  for 
the  present  the  edict  of  Worms  was  suspended,  but  that  the 
time  might  come  sometime  when  the  emperor  would 
call  the  States  to  an  account  for  not  obeying  it.  This  was, 
however,  the  best  that  could  be  expected,  and  under  this 
arrangement  a  German  army  largely  made  up  of  followers 
of  Luther,  and  commanded  by  one  of  them,  entered  Italy, 
in  1527,  stormed  the  city  of  Rome,  and  made  the  pope  a 
prisoner.  Before  Charles  could  draw  any  advantage  from 
these  events,  a  new  French  army  invaded  Italy,  took  posses- 
sion of  many  cities  in  the  north,  passed  Rome,  and  began  the 
siege  of  Naples.  Then  fortune  turned  again.  The  Genoese 
abandoned  the  French  side,  and  a  plague  reduced  the  French 
so  greatly  that  the  siege  had  to  be  given  up,  and  finally  only 
a  small  fragment  of  the  army  returned  to  France. 

299.  Peace  between  France  and  Charles  V.  —  Now  all 
parties  were  tired  of  the  war.  In  June,  1529,  the  treaty  of 
Barcelona  was  made  between  the  pope  and  the  emperor, 
and  in  July  that  of  Cambray,  or  the  Ladies'  Peace,  between 
Charles  and  Francis.  Before  these  treaties  were  actually 
signed,  Charles  had  concluded  that  the  time  was  at  last 
come  when  he  could  deal  with  the  religious  difficulty  in  Ger- 
many according  to  his  will.  The  second  Diet  of  Speyer  was 
summoned  to  meet  in  February  of  that  year.  For  the  mo- 
ment nothing  interrupted  the  emperor's  plans.  The  Diet 
decided,  by  a  majority  vote,  that  the  decision  of  the  first 


The  first  Diet 
of  Speyer. 
The  edict  of 
Worms 
suspended. 
Ranke, 
History  of 
Germany, 
Bk.  IV., 
Chap.  II. 


The  sack 

of  Rome, 

Valdez1 

account. 

Seebohm's 

Protestant 

Revolution, 

157-160 ; 

Johnson, 

Periods,  186. 


The  treaty  of 
Cambray. 


The  second 
Diet  of 
Speyer. 
Ranke. 


312 


TJie  Reformation  of  Luther     [§§  3°°-  301 


Germany, 
Bk.  V., 
Chap.  V. ; 
Hausser, 
Reformation, 
113  ff. 

The  "  Pro- 
test." 
Fisher, 
Reformation, 
117;   extract, 
Schilling, 
Quellenbuch, 
76. 


Luther 
opposed  to 
fanaticism. 


Reasons  for 

the  peasant 

revolt 

mainly 

economic. 

Seebohm, 

Protestant 

Revolution , 

59-68, 

I40-I53- 


Diet  of  Speyer  should  be  no  longer  valid,  but  that  the  edict  of 
the  Diet  of  Worms  should  be  enforced  at  once. 

300.  The  "Protestants"  and  their  Strength.  —  Against 
this  action  of  the  Diet,  the  supporters  of  Luther  entered  a 
formal  protest,  declaring  that  in  matters  of  religion  the  ma- 
jority had  no  right  to  bind  the  minority,  "  for  every  one 
must  give  an  account  of  himself  to  God."  It  was  from  this 
act  of  protest  that  the  name  "  Protestants  "  was  given  to 
those  who  followed  the  teachings  of  Luther.  It  was  signed 
by  five  princes,  the  chief  being  Saxony,  Brandenburg,  and 
Hesse,  and  by  fourteen  cities,  and  this  represents  the 
strength  of  Protestantism  in  Germany  ten  years  after 
Luther's  open  breach  with  the  Church. 

During  these  years  the  new  doctrine,  besides  making  prog- 
ress among  the  people,  had  passed  through  its  age  of  trial, 
from  the  elements  of  fanaticism  and  revolution  which 
accompany  every  great  change.  While  Luther  was  at  the 
Wartburg,  fanatics  had  proclaimed  extreme  opinions  and 
occasioned  great  excitement  at  Wittenberg  and  elsewhere 
in  Saxony.  Luther  had  felt  it  his  duty  to  leave  his  retreat 
to  put  a  stop  to  this  movement. 

301.  The  Great  feasant  War. — Towards  the  end  of  the 
year  1524,  a  far  more  serious  danger  threatened  Germany. 
For  a  hundred  years  the  peasants  had  been  growing  more 
and  more  discontented  with  their  lot.  This  was  partly  due 
to  the  fact  that  in  places  and  for  individuals  the  burdens 
laid  upon  them  by  their  lords  had  been  really  growing 
heavier.  It  was  probably  still  more  due  to  the  fact  that 
during  these  hundred  years  great  changes  had  been  taking 
place  as  a  result  of  which  they  saw  the  condition  of  the 
classes  above  them  greatly  improved,  comforts  multiplied, 
intelligence  increased,  and  wealth  much  more  easily  and 
rapidly  accumulated,  while  they,  bound  down  by  old  cus- 
toms now  very  strictly  interpreted,  were  not  able  to  take 
advantage  of  these  changes  and  had  no  share  in  the  im- 
provements taking  place. 

Now,  as  in  England  in  the  time  of  Wycliffe,  the  constant 


§§  302>  3°3]      The  First  Attack  of  the  Turks 


313 


appeal  to  the  Bible  and  the  new  religious  teachings  with 
their  spirit  of  freedom,  encouraged  the  peasants  and  fur- 
nished them  with  arguments  and  proofs.  Open  insurrec- 
tion had  been  tried  many  times  in  the  century,  but  now, 
beginning  in  southwestern  Germany,  it  spread  rapidly  and 
with  fury  over  all  that  part  of  the  Empire.  In  many  places 
the  peasants  paid  their  debts  of  suffering,  now  that  their 
turn  had  come,  with  horrible  cruelties  inflicted  on  their 
lords.  In  some  of  the  smaller  cities  the  artisan  class  sym- 
pathized with  the  peasants,  and  carried  the  town  with 
them.  It  seemed  for  a  time  as  if  the  revolution  would 
be  successful. 

302.  The  Insurrection  put  Down.  —  Luther  sympathized 
with  the  demands  for  reform  which  the  peasants  made,  but 
with  their  methods  he  had  no  sympathy,  and  he  saw  that 
their  triumph,  in  their  present  spirit,  would  mean  the  ruin 
of  society  and  of  his  own  cause.  Consequently  he  urged 
the  princes  to  put  the  insurrection  down  by  force,  and  he 
did  this  with  the  impetuosity  and  violence  of  language  which 
was  natural  to  him  when  he  was  excited. 

By  degrees  the  princes  with  their  organized  forces  took 
the  field.  Against  them,  so  much  better  armed  and  dis- 
ciplined, the  peasants  had  no  chance  of  success,  and  were 
everywhere  defeated  and  slaughtered.  In  very  few  places 
in  Germany  did  the  insurrection  result  in  any  improvement 
of  their  condition.  The  slower  economic  forces  were  on 
their  side,  however,  and  in  time  gave  them  more  rights  and 
freedom,  though  in  all  probability  their  appeal  to  force  in 
an  attempt  to  hurry  on  the  process  really  hindered  it,  and 
perhaps  in  some  regions  held  it  back  entirely  until  the  age 
of  the  French  Revolution. 

303.  The  First  Attack  of  the  Turks. — The  expectation 
which  Charles  V.  entertained  at  the  second  Diet  of  Speyer, 
that  now  the  time  had  come  for  putting  down  heresy,  was 
doomed  to  disappointment  as  it  had  been  before.  In  this 
case,  however,  the  interruption  came  not  from  France,  but 
from  the  Turks. 


Character  of 
the  revolt. 
Hausser, 
Reformation, 
92-105 ; 
Johnson, 
Periods, 
176-180 ; 
Goethe,  Goetz 
von  Berlich- 
ingen 
(drama)  ; 
the  peasants' 
"  twelve 
articles," 
Seebohm, 
Prot.  Rev., 
142;  Penn. 
II.,  No.  6. 

Position  of 

Luther. 

Kostlin, 

Luther, 

315-324. 


The  peasants 
gained 
nothing  by 
trying  force. 


The  edict  of 
Speyer  can- 
not be 
enforced. 


314 


The  Reformation  of  Luther     [§§  3°4>  3°5 


The  advance 
of  the  Turks 
unites 
Germany. 


Charles 
believes  the 
time  has  now 
come. 
Kostlin, 
Luther, 
402-426 ; 
Alzog, 
Church 
History,  III. 

75-87 ; 

Johnson, 
Periods, 
198  ff. 

The  Protes- 
tants refuse 
to  submit. 


The  League 
of  Schmal- 
kalden  and 
the  peace  of 
Nuremberg. 


The  conquering  age  of  the  Turks  was  not  yet  over,  though 
it  was  about  to  close.  The  last  of  their  great  sultans,  Sulie- 
man  II.  the  Magnificent,  was  now  reigning.  He  had  lately 
overcome  the  Hungarians  and  was  determined  to  push  on  into 
central  Europe.  In  September  the  Turks  appeared  before 
Vienna,  and  began  its  siege.  It  was  a  moment  of  great 
danger  for  Germany.  If  Vienna  fell,  central  Europe  would 
lie  open  to  invasion.  Before  this  danger  religious  differences 
were  suspended,  and  Protestant  and  Catholic  alike  prepared 
for  the  defence  of  the  fatherland.  In  a  few  weeks,  how- 
ever, Sulieman  found  that  he  could  not  take  Vienna,  and 
retired  with  his  army. 

304.  The  Diet  and  "Confession"  of  Augsburg.  —  This 
was  really  a  new  triumph  for  Charles  V.  He  had  succeeded 
with  no  effort  of  his  own  over  this  new  enemy,  and  he  had 
given  no  promises  of  lenity  to  the  Protestants.  In  the 
spring  of  1530,  he  came  himself  to  Germany,  resolved  now 
to  enforce  his  will. 

The  Diet  met  at  Augsburg.  Here  the  emperor  informed 
the  Protestant  princes  that  toleration  would  now  cease,  and 
demanded  that  they  should  obey  the  earlier  edicts  against 
the  followers  of  Luther.  They  answered  firmly  that  they 
could  not  do  so.  Charles  then  asked  for  a  statement  of 
the  points  in  which  they  differed  from  the  Catholic  faith. 
In  answer  to  this  the  first  formal  declaration  of  the  Protes- 
tant belief  was  drawn  up,  the  "  Confession  of  Augsburg," 
and  read  to  the  Diet.  In  conclusion  the  Diet  decreed  that 
the  Protestants  should  be  allowed  until  the  next  spring  to 
submit,  and  it  was  understood  that  then  measures  would  be 
taken  against  them. 

305.  The  Emperor's  Plans  again  Postponed.  —  When 
spring  came  the  emperor  hesitated.  Peace  with  France 
was  insecure.  The  Turks  were  threatening.  All  through 
1 53 1  he  allowed  things  to  drift,  but  the  Protestants  had 
taken  steps  to  provide  for  their  defence.  Luther  was 
opposed  to  civil  war,  but  the  princes  were  resolved  not  to 
yield  without  a  struggle.    In  March  they  formed  the  League 


§  3°5]        Emperors  Plans  again  Postponed  315 

of  Schmalkalden,  promising  to  defend  one  another  with  all 
their  forces.  In  1532,  before  the  emperor  was  ready  for 
extreme  measures,  came  another  Turkish  invasion.  This 
time  the  Protestant  princes  were  in  a  position  by  their 
union  to  demand  concessions  of  Charles,  and  he  was  con- 
strained to  yield.  By  the  peace  of  Nuremberg  it  was 
agreed  to  suspend  all  hostilities  until  the  religious  differ- 
ences could  be  settled  by  a  general  council.  The  Protes- 
tants then  joined  the  emperor,  and  the  Turks  were  obliged 
to  retreat  again. 

Fifteen   years   passed   before    the   situation   changed  in  The  Protes- 
Germany  in  any  material  degree  in  the  emperor's  favor.  J^ntsgam 
The  council  which  he  had  hoped  to  have  called  for  a  free   Hausser, 
discussion  of  the  differences  in  religion  he  could  not  bring  Reformation, 
about  as  he  desired.     Two  wars  with  France,  in  one   of  SnTon 
which  the  Turks  took  part,  had  kept  him  occupied.     And  periods; 
in  these  years  Protestantism  had  spread   rapidly  in  north   205-219. 
and  central  Germany  and  strengthened  greatly  its  power 
of  resistance. 


Topics 

Luther's  leading  theological  belief.  What  was  an  indulgence? 
How  popularly  misunderstood?  What  did  Luther  assert  in  his 
"theses"?  What  were  "theses"?  How  were  the  theses  received? 
Why?  What  were  the  steps  by  which  Luther  advanced  to  open 
opposition  to  the  Church?  The  Protestant  position  in  regard  to 
authority  in  the  Church.  What  motives  influenced  Charles  V.  at  the 
Diet  of  Worms?  Why  was  the  edict  not  enforced  at  once?  The  situ- 
ation in  Italy.  What  led  to  the  treaty  of  Madrid?  Why  was  not  the 
edict  of  Worms  now  enforced?  The  first  Diet  of  Speyer.  The  sack 
of  Rome.  The  second  Diet  of  Speyer.  Why  was  its  decision  not  en- 
forced? The  origin  of  the  name  "Protestant."  What  plan  did  the 
Protestant  states  form  for  protection?  What  did  they  secure  in  the 
peace  of  Nuremberg?  How  long  did  this  arrangement  last,  and  its 
results?  What  led  to  the  great  peasant  war?  Did  the  peasants  wish 
economic  or  political  freedom?  Character  of  the  revolt.  Its  result. 
Why  was  it  opposed  by  Luther? 


3 16  The  Reformation  of  Luther 


Topics  for  Assigned  Studies 

Luther's  theses.     Kostlin,  Luther,  82-94.     Alzog,  Church  History,  III. 

11-15.     Translation  in  Penn.  II.,  No.  6. 
The  Diet  of  Worms.     Kostlin,  Luther,  222-245.     Seebohm,  Protestant 

Revolution.     (Epochs.)      1 15-135.     Alzog,   Church  History,  III. 

36-42.     Hausser,  Reformation,  42-47. 


CHAPTER   VI 


THE   LATER   AGE   OF  THE   REFORMATION 


306.  The  Reformation  in  the  North  of  Europe.  —  Outside 
of  Germany  the  whole  Teutonic  north  of  Europe  had 
fallen  away  from  the  Catholic  Church.  Both  in  England 
and  in  the  Scandinavian  countries  the  governments  had 
much  to  do  with  the  introduction  of  the  new  forms  of 
faith,  but  Protestantism  had  soon  taken  a  strong  hold  of  the 
mass  of  the  people. 

In  England  at  first  the  change  was  a  peculiar  one.  It 
was  the  throwing  off  of  the  supremacy  of  the  pope,  but  not 
the  adoption  of  the  Protestant  faith.  The  personal  interest 
of  the  king  determined  the  step.  Henry  VIII.  desired  to 
be  freed  from  his  marriage  with  Catherine  of  Aragon,  the 
daughter  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  by  whom  he  had  no 
male  heir,  and  who  had  once  been  contracted  to  his  elder 
brother,  Arthur.  Aside  from  motives  of  passion,  which 
may  have  influenced  him,  Henry  may  well  have  desired  to 
have  the  succession  to  the  crown  placed  beyond  the  possi- 
bility of  dispute,  as  any  statesman  might,  remembering  the 
Wars  of  the  Roses,  still  so  recent  in  English  history. 

307.  Henry  VIII.  takes  the  Place  of  the  Pope.  —  The 
pope  refused  to  annul  the  marriage.  But  Henry  was  a  king 
who  was  both  accustomed  and  determined  to  have  his  own 
way,  and  the  divorce  which  the  pope  could  not  grant  him 
he  procured  from  an  English  Church  court  under  the  arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury.  This  act  necessarily  brought  matters 
to  a  square  issue  between  Henry  and  the  pope,  and  by 
degrees  the  papacy  was  deprived  of  all  its  powers  in  Eng- 

317 


Government 
on  the  side 
of  change. 


The  peculiar 
character  of 
the  first 
change  in 
England. 
Seebohm, 
Revolution, 
Pt.  III., 
Chap.  II.; 
Fisher, 
Reformation, 
316-325 ; 
Alzog, 
Church 
History,  III. 
191-202; 
Perry, 

Reformation 
in  England 
(Epochs 
Ch.  Hist.)  ; 
Blunt, 

Reformation 
of  the  Church 
of  England. 


3i8 


Later  Age  of  the  Reformation   [§§  3°8?  3°9 


land,  and  finally  the  Act  of  Supremacy  was  passed,  by 
which  the  king  was  declared  to  be  "  the  only  Supreme  Head 
on  earth  of  the  Church  of  England." 

This  step  made  England  independent  of  the  Roman 
Church,  but  it  made  at  first  no  other  change.  The  teachings 
and  forms  of  Protestantism  were  not  adopted,  and  the  sub- 
jects of  Henry  were  placed  in  a  difficult  position,  for  he  put 
to  death  on  one  side  those  who  still  held  to  the  supremacy 
of  the  pope,  like  Sir  Thomas  More,  the  author  of  "  Utopia," 
and  on  the  other  those  who  favored  Protestant  doctrines. 
Gradually,  however,  these  teachings,  which  had  much  in 
harmony  with  the  spirit  of  the  English  nation,  spread  among 
the  people.  Under  Henry  himself  the  Bible  was  translated 
into  English  and  placed  in  the  churches  to  be  read  by 
any  one. 

308.  England  becomes  Protestant.  —  Henry's  son,  Edward 
VI.,  was  still  a  child  at  the  death  of  his  father,  and  those 
who  governed  England  in  his  name  were  favorable  to  Prot- 
estantism, so  that,  though  the  reign  was  short,  it  was  one  of 
rapid  change.  From  it  dates  the  English  Prayer  Book  and 
the  use  of  English  in  all  the  services  of  the  Church.  Queen 
Mary,  who  followed  Edward,  was  the  daughter  of  Henry  and 
Catherine  of  Aragon,  and  it  was  hardly  possible  for  her  to 
be  otherwise  than  Catholic.  Her  efforts  to  reestablish  the 
power  of  the  pope,  her  marriage  with  her  cousin,  Philip  II. 
of  Spain,  and  her  persecution  of  the  Protestants,  which 
gained  for  her  the  name  of  "  Bloody  Mary,"  were  all  of  no 
avail,  and  after  her  short  reign  her  sister  Elizabeth  had 
no  difficulty  in  restoring  Protestant  institutions  and  her  own 
supremacy  in  the  Church.  In  her  reign  Protestantism 
became  the  religion  of  the  great  body  of  the  English  nation. 

309.  Calvinism.  —  In  the  meantime  in  the  Latin  king- 
dom of  France  a  new  phase  of  Protestantism  had  arisen 
which  was  destined  to  have  a  great  influence  upon  England 
and  the  United  States.  This  was  Calvinism.  John  Calvin, 
born  not  far  from  Paris,  had  been  educated  for  the  profes- 
sion of  the  law,  but  while  still  a  student  he  had  accepted  the 


§  3°9]  Calvinism  319 

teachings  of  Luther,  and  at  the  age  of  twenty-six  he  pub- 
lished a  most  remarkable  book,  "The  Institutes  of  the 
Christian  Religion,"  the  first  scientific  treatise  on  Protestant 
theology.  In  1536  he  took  up  his  residence  at  Geneva, 
where  he  spent  the  remainder  of  his  life.  There  he  was 
able  to  carry  out  his  ideas  of  republican  government  in 
the  Church  and  of  a  state  founded  on  the  Bible  and  con- 
trolled by  religion.  Geneva  became  a  kind  of  city  of 
refuge  for  persecuted  Protestants  from  all  the  West  of 
Europe,  and  a  training  school  of  the  new  ideas  in  Church 
and  State. 

Calvin's  was  a  legal   mind   and   inexorably   logical,  and   Calvin's 
starting  with  the  idea  of  the  supremacy  of  God's  will  in  the  teachings, 
universe  as  the  most  fundamental  of  all  truths,  he  developed 
a  system  which  has  seemed  to  the  modern  world,  in  its  ex- 
treme form,  —  where  predestination  determines  everything, 
and  the  individual  has  no  true  choice  and  no  control  over 
his  own  destiny,  —  too  harsh  and  merciless.     But  it  was  a 
system  which,  from  its  very  hardness,  made  strong  men.     It 
taught,  in  contrast  with  Luther's  feeling,  the  supreme  duty  of 
defending  the  truth  and  of  resisting  evil  even  in  the  State. 
This  spirit  of  Calvinism,  which  will  fight  for  the  right  to  the 
death   and  never   yield,  we   can   trace  throughout  all  the 
countries  of  the  West  of  Europe,  where  the  conflict  was 
waged  in  the  next  age,  in  Scotland,  England,  Holland,  and 
France,  and  in  America,  and  we  should  recognize  in  it  one 
of  the  most  powerful  forces  determining  the  final  results  of 
the  period  of  the  religious  wars.     Calvinism,  made  no  per- 
manent contribution  to  the  institutions  of  civil  liberty.     The  Calvin's 
theocratic  state,  taking  the  Bible  as  its  law  and  rigidly  en-   political 
forcing  a  formal   and   sombre   moral   code,   which   Calvin  spirit(  not  in 
maintained  in  Geneva  during  his  lifetime,  and  which  was  institutions, 
attempted  in  some  of  the  New  England  colonies,  especially 
in  the  New  Haven  colony,  passed  away  in  the  end  without 
leaving  a  permanent  constitutional  influence.     But  the  rein- 
forcement which  the  spirit  of  Calvinism  brought  at  a  critical 
time  to  the  hereditary  spirit  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race,  in  the 


320 


Later  Age  of  the  Reformation     C§§  310?  31 


The  Refor- 
mation in 
France 
and  Holland. 
Fisher, 
Reformation, 
242-256 ; 
Penn.  III., 
No.  3. 


Political 
elements 
among  the 
Huguenots. 


Protestant- 
ism in 
Holland. 


Reformation 

in  the 

Catholic 

Church. 

Ward, 

The  Counter 

Reformation 


defence  of  liberty  and  of  the  government  of  the  people,  must 
be  gratefully  recognized. 

310.  Reformation  in  France  and  Holland. — The  teach- 
ings of  Calvin  found  the  way  prepared  for  ready  acceptance 
and  great  results  in  France.  Even  before  Luther  some  of 
his  ideas  in  the  way  of  religious  reform  had  been  taught  in 
France  and  had  found  adherents.  The  influence  of  Luther's 
reformation  followed  speedily  and  rapidly  increased  the  party 
which  had  been  scarcely  more  than  begun.  The  govern- 
ment, which  was  really  in  a  position  to  deal  more  consist- 
ently with  such  a  movement  than  was  the  government  of 
the  Empire,  followed  no  steady  policy  of  repression,  and 
the  party  of  the  reformers  continued  to  grow  through  the 
early  years  of  the  period.  The  effect  of  Calvin's  teaching 
was  not  merely  to  give  to  this  party  the  reinforcement  of 
new  converts,  but  all  the  strength  that  comes  from  regular 
organization  and  clearly  defined  aims. 

This  party,  which  comes  in  time  to  be  known  as  that  of 
the  Huguenots,  was  naturally  far  stronger  in  France  among 
the  middle  and  upper  classes  than  among  the  lower.  In 
central  and  southern  France  it  received  a  strong  reinforce- 
ment from  the  elements  representing  the  older  local  and 
feudal  independence  of  the  country,  and  in  the  age  of  the 
religious  civil  wars  has  quite  as  much  the  character  of  a 
political  as  of  a  religious  party. 

In  the  northern  province  of  the  Netherlands  the  ground 
had  also  been  prepared  for  the  sowing  of  Calvin  through  a 
kind  of  local  self-government  in  political  affairs  and  a  sturdy 
sense  of  independence  among  the  people,  who  retained  in 
many  ways  primitive  Teutonic  characteristics.  The  Dutch 
Protestants  were  real  Puritans  in  belief  and  conduct,  but  like 
the  Huguenots  and  the  English  Puritans,  their  importance 
lies  in  the  age  of  struggle  which  follows  the  Reformation. 

311.  The  Counter  Reformation.  —  The  term  "Reforma- 
tion" has  rather  become  limited  in  formal  history  to  the 
rise  of  the  Protestant  churches,  but  we  ought  not  to  over- 
look the  fact  that  in  nearly  every  sense  the  word  is  to  be 


§312] 


The  Society  of  Jesus 


321 


as  truly  applied  to  the  history  of  the  Catholic  Church  in 
this  age.  The  old  abuses  in  government  and  conduct  of 
which  the  fifteenth  century  so  bitterly  complained  disap- 
peared and  have  never  again  characterized  the  government 
of  the  Church  as  a  whole.  The  popes  of  the  middle  of  the 
sixteenth  century  were  decidedly  reforming  popes,  and  the 
papacy  has  never  since  fallen  to  the  hands  of  such  a  man  as 
Alexander  VI.  If  in  some  ways,  in  doctrine  and  in  the  mo- 
narchical tendency  of  the  government,  the  Catholic  Church 
emphasized  the  medieval  tendency,  it  was  because  the  body 
of  the  Church  was  unconvinced  by  the  arguments  of  the  re- 
formers and  held  to  the  old  beliefs  from  firm  conviction. 

It  was  the  work  of  the  council  of  Trent  to  formulate  in 
definite  statement  those  points  of  doctrine,  and  to  establish 
controlling  precedents  for  the  future  by  its  practice  in  regard 
to  those  points  of  government  which  the  reformers  had 
especially  attacked.  In  belief  it  proclaimed  the  divine 
mission  of  the  Church  to  know  and  teach  the  truth  for  all 
its  members,  and  in  government,  by  recognizing  that  the 
supreme  legislative  power  rested  in  the  pope,  it  completed 
the  establishment  of  the  papacy  as  an  unlimited  monarchy. 
These  conclusions  were  not  reached  in  the  council  without 
some  opposition,  and  its  sessions  were  interrupted  for  long 
intervals,  partly  because  of  the  political  uncertainties  of  the 
period.  In  general,  however,  the  decisions  of  the  council 
were  in  accord  with  the  tendencies  which  had  long  prevailed 
in  the  history  of  the  Catholic  Church  and  which  have  con- 
tinued to  characterize  it  down  to  the  present  time. 

312.  The  Society  of  Jesus.  —  During  the  same  period  the 
revival  in  the  Catholic  Church  was  accompanied  with  the 
organization  of  many  new  monastic  orders,  of  more  modern 
spirit  and  methods  than  those  of  the  Middle  Ages.  The 
most  important  of  these  was  the  Jesuit  order,  or  the  Society 
of  Jesus.  Founded  by  a  Spanish  noble  and  soldier,  Loyola, 
upon  the  military  model,  to  be  the  army  of  Christ  and  the 
pope,  its  fundamental  principle  was  the  strict  and  unques- 
tioning obedience  of  the  soldier.     In  method,  as  compared 


(Epochs 
Ch.  Hist.)  ; 
Fisher, 
Reformation, 
390  ff. 


The  council 
of  Trent, 

IS45-I563. 

Ward, 

Counter 

Reformation, 

Chap.  III.; 

Symonds, 

Catholic 

Reaction, 

Chap.  II.; 

Alzog, 

Church 

History,  III. 

340-360; 

Penn.  II., 

No.  6. 


The  Jesuit 

order. 

Shorthouse, 

John 

Inglesant 

(novel). 


322 


Later  Age  of  tJie  Reformation 


[§3- 


with  earlier  monastic  orders,  its  leading  characteristic  was  the 
practice  of  mingling  with  the  world  in  all  sorts  of  occupa- 
tions wherever  influence  was  to  be  acquired  or  something 

gained  for  the  cause  of 
Catholicism.  To  educa- 
tion, diplomacy,  and  the 
confessional,  especially  to 
acting  as  the  confessors  of 
persons  in  positions  of  po- 
litical activity,  the  early 
Jesuits  devoted  particular 
attention,  and  in  all  direc- 
tions their  efforts  were  of 
great  value  in  checking  the 
spread  of  Protestantism 
and  even  in  making  some 
recovery  of  what  had  been 
lost.  In  somewhat  later  times  the  methods  of  the  Jesuits 
excited  the  suspicion  of  all  the  European  governments,  and 
their  influence  has  been  much  less  than  in  the  sixteenth 
century. 


Ignatius  Loyola 


Topics 

Just  what  was  the  change  in  the  English  Church  made  by  Henry 
VIII.?  Why  did  he  persecute  both  Protestants  and  Catholics?  Why 
was  Mary  naturally  a  Catholic?  And  Elizabeth  a  Protestant?  The 
religious  and  political  ideas  of  Calvin.  Their  influence  on  character. 
Why  were  they  suited  to  the  Anglo-Saxon  race?  Their  influence  on 
liberty.  What  combination  of  elements  in  the  Huguenot  party?  The 
character  of  Protestantism  in  the  Netherlands.  The  reformation  in 
the  Catholic  Church.  In  the  papacy.  The  decisions  of  the  council  of 
Trent.     The  fundamental  idea  and  the  methods  of  the  Jesuit  order. 


Topics  for  Assigned  Studies 

John  Calvin.  Fisher,  Reformation,  Chap.  VII.  Baird,  Rise  of  the 
Huguenots,  I.  198-216.  Alzog,  Church  History,  III.  143-155 
Froude,  essay  in  Short  Studies,  Vol.  II.     Penn.  III.,  No.  3. 


Topics  for  Review  323 

'I  he  Jesuit  order.  Symonds,  Catholic  Reaction,  Chap.  IV.  Ward, 
Counter  Reformation,  31-46.  Alzog,  Church  History,  III.  373- 
385. 

Topics  for  Review 

An  outline  intellectual  history  of  the  period. 

An  outline  economic  history  of  the  period. 

The  various  ways  in  which  preparation  had  been  made  for  the  Reforma- 
tion. 

The  various  earlier  attempts  at  Reformation. 

In  what  ways  did  the  political  situation  in  Europe  protect  the  Reforma- 
tion in  Germany? 

Group  together  all  the  results  of  the  Reformation. 

Sketch  the  constitutional  history  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  this  period. 


324 


Important  Dates  for  Review 


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73  A- 


PART   VII 

THE  .STRUGGLE   OF    THE    NATIONS  FOR 
SUPREMACY  AND  EXPANSION 


No  reference  can  be  made  to  general  works  covering  the  period  of 
the  following  part  which  are  of  value  for  our  purpose.  See  the  general 
bibliography  at  the  beginning  of  the  volume,  and  the  special  bibliog- 
raphies which  follow. 

Summary 

The  age  of  the  religious  wars  opened  in  Germany,  where  at  the 
close  of  his  reign  Charles  V.  was  able  to  begin  his  long-deferred 
attack  upon  the  Protestants.  The  war  was  indecisive,  however, 
and  the  Peace  of  Augsburg  which  closed  it  left  so  many  ques- 
tions unsettled  that  it  was  a  truce  rather  than  a  peace.  In  France 
a  whole  generation  was  occupied  by  wars  between  Huguenot  and 
Catholic  of  the  most  selfish  character  on  both  sides,  and  closed 
only  by  the  accession  of  the  Huguenot  Henry  IV.  to  the  throne 
as  Catholic  king,  and  by  the  edict  of  Nantes,  which  allowed  the 
Huguenots  almost  political  independence  in  the  State.  In  the 
Netherlands  the  efforts  of  Philip  II.  to  destroy  Protestantism  led 
to  a  heroic  resistance  and  finally  to  the  independence  of  the  north- 
ern provinces  and  to  the  foundation  of  a  great  naval  and  colonial 
power.  In  England  the  nation  rallied  around  the  Protestant 
queen,  Elizabeth,  against  the  attempts  which  were  made  to  de- 
throne her,  and  in  the  struggle  with  Spain  laid  the  foundations 
of  a  future  world  empire.  The  practical  absolutism  which  they 
were  willing  to  allow  Elizabeth  because  of  the  national  danger 
they  would  not  tolerate  in  her  successor,  and  when  the  Stuarts 
obstinately  clung  to  their  prerogatives,  the  Puritan  party  led  a 
rebellion  against  Charles  I.,  put  him  to  death,  and  established 

325 


326  The  Age  of  Religions  Wars 

a  temporary  republic  under  Cromwell.  In  Germany  many  causes 
of  dissension  between  Catholics  and  Protestants  at  last  led  to  the 
terrible  Thirty  Years1  War,  in  which  the  land  suffered  the  horrors 
of  savage  warfare  from  the  armies  of  adventurers  like  Wallen- 
stein,  and  from  foreign  invaders,  the  Danes,  the  Swedes  under 
Gustavus  Adolphus,  and  the  French  under  Richelieu.  .  The  abso- 
lutism which  had  been  forming  so  rapidly  in  France  in  the  last 
part  of  the  Middle  Ages  was  completed  by  Richelieu,  who  forced 
the  Huguenots  to  submission,  and  then  the  great  nobles,  and 
prepared  France  for  a  great  career  of  foreign  conquest.  The 
treaties  of  Westphalia,  which  closed  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  left 
Germany  exhausted  and  the  Empire  a  mere  name,  while  the 
strength  of  Spain  had  completely  decayed.  When  Louis  XIV. 
assumed  the  government,  France  was  the  most  powerful  state  of 
Europe,  and  there  seemed  to  be  nothing  to  prevent  him  from 
reaching  the  frontier  of  the  Rhine  and  absorbing  a  large  part  of 
the  Spanish  possessions.  But  these  plans  failed  through  the  re- 
sistance of  the  little  republic  of  Holland,  and  though  Louis  was 
able  to  cripple  his  enemy,  aided  by  England  under  Charles  II., 
in  the  last  part  of  his  reign,  England,  rid  of  the  Stuart  policy 
forever  by  the  Revolution  of  1688,  united  with  all  Europe  against 
France  in  the  great  war  of  the  Spanish  Secession.  Louis  seated 
his  grandson  on  the  throne  of  Spain,  but  France  was  exhausted 
for  a  long  time,  and  no  real  union  of  the  States  took  place.  The 
first  part  of  the  eighteenth  century  saw  the  rapid  rise  of  Russia 
through  the  reforms  of  Peter  the  Great  and  his  conquests  from 
the  Swedes  and  the  Turks,  and  of  Prussia  through  the  careful 
husbandry  of  the  Hohenzollern  family,  which  prepared  the  way 
for  the  conquests  of  Frederick  the  Great.  He  seized  the  prov- 
ince of  Silesia  from  Maria  Theresa  and  forced  her  to  yield  it 
to  him,  and  later  defended  its  possession  with  brilliant  energy 
against  almost  all  Europe  in  the  Seven  Years'  War.  But,  looked 
at  in  the  largest  way,  this  war  was  only  an  incident  in  the  strug- 
gle for  colonial  empire  between  France  and  England  which  fills 
the  century,  and  was  settled  not  in  Europe,  but  by  the  victories 
of  Clive  in  India  and  the  capture  of  Quebec  in  America.  Eng- 
land's mistake  in  attempting  to  force  the  colonies  to  share  the 
expenses  of  this  war  gave  all  her  old  rivals  an  opportunity  to 
unite  in  revenge,  and  she  was  obliged  to  acknowledge  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  United  States.  A  new  empire  was  opened, 
however,  to  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  as  one  consequence,  by  the 
immediate  occupation  of  Australia.  Meanwhile  the  corruption 
of  the  government,  the  enormous  burden  of  taxation,  and  odious 


Summary  327 

class  distinctions,  combined  with  the  spread  of  a  critical  spirit 
and  the  knowledge  of  better  things  in  England  and  America, 
prepared  the  way  for  a  revolution  in  France.  Once  begun,  the 
revolution  was  rapidly  swept  on  to  extremes,  as  it  destroyed  the 
relics  of  the  old  feudal  system  and  the  absolutism  of  the  king. 
The  Reign  of  Terror  only  prepared  the  way  for  a  new  absolutism, 
and  in  the  one  successful  general  in  the  war  against  all  Europe, 
Bonaparte,  the  man  was  ready  to  exercise  it.  The  consulship 
was  a  preparation  for  the  Empire  which  was  proclaimed  when 
Napoleon  seemed  at  the  height  of  his  power.  For  many  years 
this  power  increased  rather  than  diminished,  but  France  was 
growing  weak  under  constant  drains,  and  at  last  the  terrible 
losses  in  Russia  could  not  be  made  good,  and  Napoleon  fell. 
His  desperate  effort  to  recover  himself  which  ended  in  the  battle 
of  Waterloo  closed  his  history.  At  the  congress  of  Vienna  sov- 
ereigns and  diplomats  disposed  of  the  nations  as  they  thought 
good,  but  the  longing  for  free  government  and  for  national  unity 
which  had  begun  among  the  people  in  the  age  of  revolution  could 
not  be  rooted  out.  Revolutionary  movements  kept  occurring  at 
intervals  all  over  Europe,  and  resulted  in  the  grant  of  constitu- 
tions here  and  there,  but  final  success  was  reached  only  in  the 
great  period  from  the  close  of  the  Crimean  War  to  that  of  the 
Franco-Prussian.  Then  in  little  more  than  a  decade  Italy 
secured  a  national  existence  under  the  lead  of  the  house  of 
Savoy,  and  Germany  under  Prussia,  and  almost  every  State  in 
Europe  obtained  a  more  or  less  complete  self-government. 
Russia  alone  remained  true  to  the  old  absolutism  and  to  her  tra- 
ditional desire  to  absorb  the  Turkish  Empire.  This  the  Western 
nations  combined  to  prevent  in  the  Crimean  War,  and  later  in  the 
congress  of  Berlin,  but  in  the  closing  years  of  the  nineteenth 
century  the  Eastern  Question  seemed  to  be  losing  its  relative 
importance  before  the  rise  of  world  politics,  due  mainly  to  the 
enormous  expansion  of  the  Anglo-Saxons,  and  the  desire  of 
other  nations  to  emulate  their  success  if  possible.  This  world 
expansion  of  a  race,  and  the  transformation  of  the  world  itself 
which  has  accompanied  it,  was  made  possible  only  by  the  in- 
tellectual and  scientific  advances  of  the  age.  Rapidity  of  pro- 
duction before  undreamed  of  demanded  the  widest  possible 
extension  of  markets,  and  this  was  made  possible  in  turn  by 
revolutionary  improvements  in  the  means  of  communication  by 
the  use  of  steam  and  electricity.  Together  these  things  have 
not  merely  carried  the  most  energetic  and  adaptable  of  the  mod- 
ern races  over  the  whole  globe,  but  they  have  led  to  accumula- 


328 


The  Age  of  Religious  Wars 


[§3i3 


tions  of  wealth  which  seem  almost  fabulous,  and  to  a  general 
dissemination  of  comforts  and  conveniences  which  our  grand- 
fathers would  not  believe  possible.  As  history  passes  into  the 
twentieth  century  the  world  seems  to  be  on  the  eve  of  even 
greater  transformations. 


CHAPTER   I 


THE  AGE  OF  RELIGIOUS   WARS 


An  age  of 
civil  war. 


France. 


Spain. 


England. 


313.  The  General  Character  of  the  Age.  —  About  the 
middle  of  the  sixteenth  century,  a  new  age  opens  in  the  his- 
tory of  Europe.  It  is  an  age  in  which  almost  every  country 
is  involved  in  war  —  in  most  cases  civil  war,  growing  di- 
rectly out  of  the  Reformation,  though  as  the  period  comes 
to  an  end  we  can  see  rising  questions  of  international  poli- 
tics, the  rivalry  of  nations  with  one  another,  and  especi- 
ally the  rivalry  between  France  and  the  house  of  Hapsburg. 
At  the  beginning  of  the  period,  France  withdraws  from 
Italy,  and  turns  its  attention  to  the  Rhine  valley,  where  in 
the  end  it  is  to  pay  so  dearly  for  the  conquests  it  makes 
from  Germany.  Italy  thus  left  to  itself  falls  under  the  prac- 
tically undisputed  control  of  the  Spanish  Hapsburgs.  France 
passes  almost  immediately  into  an  age  of  religious  civil  war, 
from  which  it  emerges  in  a  condition  to  take  up  again  plans 
of  national  aggrandizement  only  after  two  generations.  In 
the  same  years,  Spain  is  engaged  in  a  long  and  unsuccessful 
effort  to  subdue  the  revolted  Netherlands,  which  would 
have  meant  the  reestablishment  of  the  Catholic  religion 
over  a  Protestant  people. 

During  the  same  time  also,  England  passed  through  a 
very  critical  period,  in  constant  danger  of  rebellion  and 
revolution,  stimulated  often  by  Spain,  in  the  interest  of  the 
old  form  of  faith,  and  succeeded  in  protecting  her  national 
independence  and  religion  only  by  the  exercise  of  the  ut- 
most vigilance  and  discretion  on  the  part  of  the  government. 


§  3r4]     First  Period  of  the  Schmalkaldic  War       329 


Germany  opened  the  period  of  religious  civil  wars  in  the  Germany. 
Schmalkaldic  War.  This  was  closed  by  the  treaty  of  Augs- 
burg, which  in  form  established  toleration  for  Catholics  and 
Lutherans,  but  it  left  unsettled  many  causes  of  disagree- 
ment, and  while  the  other  nations  were  passing  through 
their  civil  wars,  the  parties  in  Germany  were  watching  one 
another  with  constantly  increasing  jealousy.  At  last,  when 
the  seventeenth  century  was  well  under  way,  the  war  broke 
out,  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  the  greatest  and  most  destruc- 
tive of  all  these  civil  wars,  a  religious  war  in  its  early  stages, 
but  changing  toward  the  end  into  a  war  of  European  states. 
The  close  of  the  period  saw  also  in  England  a  great  civil 
war  between  king  and  Parliament,  a  war  in  form  upon  con- 
stitutional questions,  but  deriving  much  of  its  character  and 
spirit  from  the  influence  of  Calvinism. 

314.    The  First  Period  of  the  Schmalkaldic   War.  —  In 

1546,  Charles  V.  was  able  to  begin  the  war  against  the  Prot- 
estants which  he  had  been  obliged  to  postpone  so  many 
times.  The  treaty  of  Crespy  had  given  him  peace  with 
France.     Francis   was    drawing    to    his    end.     He  died  in 

1547,  and  his  successor,  Henry  II.,  seemed  for  some  years 
to  care  only  for  the  pleasures  of  the  court.  The  Turks 
were  also  no  longer  to  be  feared.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
Protestants  were  now  much  stronger  than  when  last  threat- 
ened by  the  emperor  with  war,  and  had  they  been  united 
and  well  led,  they  would  have  been  too  strong  for  Charles. 
As  it  was,  his  successes  were  gained  by  the  help  of  the  ruler 
and  army  of  a  Protestant  state,  by  the  able  but  unscrupu- 
lous Maurice  of  Saxony.  He  was  the  head  of  the  younger 
Saxon  line  and  was  ambitious  of  larger  territories  and  higher 
titles.  During  the  first  years  everything  went  in  Charles' 
favor.  He  gained  the  great  victory  of  Miihlberg,  captured 
and  held  in  close  imprisonment  the  two  chief  Protestant 
princes,  John  Frederic,  Elector  of  Saxony,  and  Philip  of 
Hesse,  and  Maurice  was  rewarded  for  his  treason  by  the 
Electorate  and  the  larger  part  of  the  territories  of  his 
cousin.     Soon   afterward,   the   siege    of   Magdeburg,  which 


Religious 
war  begins 
in  Germany. 
Hausser, 
Reformation, 
196-215 ; 
Johnson, 
Periods, 
220-239 ; 
map, 
Putzger, 
No.  21. 


Maurice  of 
Saxony. 


330 


The  Age  of  Religious  Wars     [§§  3r5>  3l6 


Maurice  of 

Saxony  and 

France 

against 

Charles. 

Hausser, 

Reformation, 

226-234; 

Johnson, 

Periods, 

239-246 ; 

Zeller,  XIV. 


Charles 
defeated. 


seemed  the  last  stronghold  of  Protestantism,  was   begun 
by  Maurice. 

315.  The  Turning-point  of  the  War.  —  Then  the  situa- 
tion suddenly  changed.  Gradually  it  had  become  evident 
to  Germany  that  Charles  had  other  plans  than  those  for  the 
supremacy  of  Catholicism.  He  seemed  to  be  intending  to 
establish  a  strong  imperial  power  by  the  overthrow  of  the 
princes,  and  to  transfer  the  succession  from  his  brother,  the 
German  Ferdinand,  to  his  son,  the  Spanish  Philip.  Maurice 
quickly  saw  that  the  time  was  ripe  for  a  second  treason 
which  would  be  equally  profitable  with  the  first.  He  had 
been  offended  by  the  treatment  of  his  father-in-law,  Philip 
of  Hesse,  by  the  emperor,  but,  a  still  stronger  motive,  here 
was  an  opportunity  to  obtain  the  consent  of  the  Protestant 
princes  to  the  gifts  which  Charles  had  made  him.  At  the 
same  moment,  Henry  II.  of  France,  fearing  the  increasing 
strength  of  Charles  in  Germany,  was  thinking  of  interfer- 
ing. An  arrangement  was  readily  made  between  him  and 
the  Protestant  princes,  by  which  they  were  supplied  with 
money,  and  he  was  allowed  to  take  possession  for  France  of 
the  "  Three  Bishoprics,"  Metz,  Toul,  and  Verdun,  "  cities 
which  have  belonged  to  the  Empire  but  where  the  French 
language  has  been  spoken,"  as  the  treaty  said.  This  was 
the  first  step  of  France  in  the  policy  of  securing  the  frontier 
of  the  Rhine,  and  though,  after  peace  had  been  made  in 
Germany,  the  Emperor  made  a  vigorous  attempt  to  recover 
these  lands,  he  failed  and  they  remained  in  the  possession 
of  France. 

316.  The  Close  of  the  War.  —  The  Emperor  did  not  sus- 
pect what  was  going  on,  and  when  everything  was  ready,  so 
sudden  was  the  attack  of  Maurice,  that  Charles  escaped  only 
with  difficulty  and  by  night  through  the  passes  of  the  Alps. 
The  work  of  years  was  speedily  undone,  and  Charles  was 
forced  to  give  up  all  his  plans,  and  to  leave  the  practical 
direction  of  affairs  to  his  brother  Ferdinand.  The  war  was 
really  closed  by  the  convention  of  Passau  in  1552,  and  this 
was  followed  in  1555  by  the  definitive  peace  of  Augsburg. 


§  3l8l       Power  and  Character  of  Philip  II.  331 


Cannon  of  the  XVIth  Century 


This  established  religious  toleration  of  a  very  imperfect  kind. 
It  gave  to  the  government  of  each  State  the  power  to  decide 
what  should  be  the  legal  religion  of  its  land,  and  then  to  do 
what  it  pleased  with 
the  adherents  of  any 
other,  though  if  it  de- 
cided to  expel  them, 
they  should  be  al- 
lowed to  take  their 
property  with  them. 
Under  this  treaty 
peace  was  maintained  in  Germany  until  the  beginning  of 
the  Thirty  Years'  War  in  1618,  but  very  soon  questions 
began  to  arise  which  were  not  thought  of  when  the  treaty 
was  made,  and  whose  practical  settlement  seemed  to  one 
party  or  the  other  a  violation  of  its  terms. 

317.  Abdication  of  Charles  V.  — Very  soon  after  the  con- 
clusion of  the  peace  of  Augsburg,  Charles  V.,  disappointed 
in  all  his  great  plans  and  worn  with  disease,  abdicated  all 
his  crowns,  and  retired  to  spend  the  rest  of  his  days  in  the 
cloister  of  San  Yuste  in  Spain.  His  brother  Ferdinand  suc- 
ceeded him  in  the  German  possessions  of  the  family,  and 
was  elected  emperor,  and  his  son  Philip  obtained  his  other 
possessions  in  Spain,  Italy,  the  Low  Countries,  and  America. 
It  was  much  to  the  advantage  of  France  and  of  the  rest  of 
the  world  as  well,  that  Charles  had  not  been  able  to  unite 
his  vast  dominions  into  a  universal  monarchy,  but  the  power 
of  the  house  of  Austria,  even  though  divided,  still  over- 
shadowed the  world,  and  for  generations  yet  was  to  be 
feared  and  resisted  until  at  last  its  decline  became  evident 
to  all. 

318.  The  Power  and  Character  of  Philip  II.  — At  the 
outset,  however,  the  power  of  Philip  II.  was  as  great  as  that 
which  Charles  V.  had  had  at  any  time.  If  he  did  not  have 
Austria  and  the  Empire,  he  escaped  in  that  way  the  difficul- 
ties and  embarrassments  which  had  constantly  hampered  his 
father  on  their  account.     When  he  began  to  reign  his  con- 


The  peace 

of  Augsburg. 

Hausser, 

Reformation, 

234-240 ; 

Johnson, 

Periods, 


Spain  and 

Austria 

separated, 

Penn.  III., 
No.  3. 


As  powerful 
as  Charles  V. 


332 


The  Age  of  Religious  Wars 


[§3'8 


trol  was  undisputed  over  the  resources  of  Spain,  Spanish 
Italy,  the  Netherlands,  and  America.  With  power  so  much 
greater  than  any  of  his  contemporaries  possessed,  Philip  might 
reasonably  hope  to  accomplish  anything  that  he  desired. 
That  he  failed  in  his  purposes,  lost  some  of  the  best  portions 


'HiLir  II. 


The  charac- 
ter and 
ideals  of 
Philip. 
Motley, 
Dutch 


of  his  empire,  and  exhausted  the  remainder  was  due  to  his 
personal  character  and  policy. 

The  more  popular  qualities  of  Charles  V.'s  early  life  did 
not  descend  to  his  son.  Philip  was  cold  and  unapproach- 
able, secretive  in  disposition,  hard  and  unpitying,  and 
inflexibly  obstinate  when  his  purpose  was  once  formed. 
His  government  was  a  typical  despotism,  as  he  sincerely 
believed  all  government   should  be,  in  which,  though    he 


§3i9l 


Philip  and  Mary  of  England 


333 


might  listen  to  the  opinions  of  others,  every  decision  was  his 
own,  and,  when  once  reached,  not  to  be  questioned  by  the 
highest.  From  some  source  Philip  had  derived  a  strong 
religious  tendency  which  was  the  controlling  influence  in 
shaping  his  policy,  and  which  determined  the  result  of  his 
reign.  The  tendency  was  toward  a  somewhat  formal  and 
theoretical  religion,  and  it  was  not  of  a  sort  to  control  his 
personal  morals,  but  it  may  on  that  very  account  have  exer- 
cised an  even  more  decisive  influence  over  his  public  policy. 
To  Philip  the  supreme  thing  in  the  world  was  the  Church. 
The  highest  duty  of  every  monarch  was  to  support  and  de- 
fend it. 

In  his  own  case,  the  way  of  duty  seemed  entirely  plain. 
With  all  the  vast  resources  at  his  command,  he  must  devote 
himself  to  keeping  down  heresy  where  it  was  not  already 
supreme,  and  to  recovering  as  many  as  possible  of  the  prov- 
inces which  the  Church  had  lost.  He  did  not  recognize  the 
depth  of  the  current  nor  the  impossibility  of  turning  it  back, 
and  because  he  thus  faced  the  past  and  not  the  future,  he  hast- 
ened the  decline  of  Spain,  which  had  perhaps  already  begun. 
It  certainly  was  the  blindest  political  policy  to  drive  out  and 
destroy  by  persecution  the  Moors  still  left  in  southern  Spain, 
but  he  was  undoubtedly  sincere  in  saying,  as  he  did  of  the 
Netherlands,  that  he  had  rather  not  reign  at  all  than  to 
reign  over  heretics. 

319.  Philip  and  Mary  of  England.  — The  power  of  Philip 
might  seem  at  his  accession  to  render  resistance  hopeless, 
but  a  type  of  Protestantism  had  already  arisen  in  the  countries 
where  the  issue  must  be  decided,  in  Holland  and  in  England, 
well  fitted  for  the  conflict.  This  was  Calvinism,  whose 
controlling  spirit  of  resistance  to  tyranny  we  have  already 
noticed. 

Philip  had  been  married,  some  months  before  the  abdica- 
tion of  his  father,  to  Queen  Mary  of  England.  It  was  a 
union  very  dear  to  Mary,  though  very  unpopular  with  her 
subjects,  and  both  she  and  Philip  hoped  that  it  would  increase 
the  power  of  the  great  Catholic  monarchy  and  secure  the 


Republic 

(Harper), 

139-146 ; 

Johnson, 

Periods, 

309-313. 


His  mission, 
to  suppress 
heresy. 


Philip  must 
,contend  with 
Calvinism. 


The  mar- 
riage of 
Philip  and 
Mary. 


334 


The  Age  of  Religions  Wars     [§§320021 


Green, 

English 

People,  II. 

246-261 ; 

Froude, 

England, 

VI.,  Chap. 

XXXIII.; 

Creighton, 

Elizabeth 

(Epochs), 

29-47. 


Elizabeth, 
1 558- 1603. 
Her  situation 
and 

character. 
Creighton. 
Elizabeth, 
128-148 ; 
Green, 
English 
People,  II. 
295-302. 


Documents. 

Prothero, 

1-20; 

Gee  and 

Hardy, 

115-508. 


complete  triumph  of  the  Church  which  both  so  much  desired. 
Mary,  as  the  daughter  of  Catherine  of  Aragon,  could  hardly 
avoid  being  a  Catholic.  If  she  were  a  Protestant,  she  would 
proclaim  her  own  illegitimacy.  In  her  short  reign  she  did 
all  that  she  could  to  bring  England  back  into  the  old  way. 
She  undid  the  legislation  of  her  father,  restored  the  suprem- 
acy of  the  pope,  tried  to  destroy  the  influences  which  had 
begun  to  work  during  the  reign  of  her  brother,  and  put 
many  Protestants  to  death.  But  she  was  disappointed  in  all. 
There  was  no  child  from  her  marriage  with  Philip  to  carry 
on  her  plans ;  England,  though  not  yet  Protestant,  endured 
sullenly  her  methods  of  rule ;  Philip,  disappointed  also  in 
what  he  had  hoped  to  gain  from  England,  gave  her  no  sym- 
pathy nor  personal  support;  and  finally  Providence  itself 
seemed  to  desert  her  when  Francis  of  Guise  captured  Calais, 
which  the  English  had  held  for  two  hundred  years  against 
all  the  efforts  of  France.  She  was  succeeded  in  the  same 
year  by  Elizabeth. 

320.  England  again  Protestant.  —  Elizabeth,  as  the  child 
of  the  marriage  which  had  overthrown  the  supremacy  of  the 
pope,  was  just  as  necessarily  constrained  to  be  Protestant  as 
Mary  to  be  Catholic.  Her  situation  was,  however,  critical, 
and  demanded  that  she  should  proceed  with  caution.  Eng- 
land was  probably  still  more  than  half  Catholic.  No  one 
who  was  more  Catholic  than  Englishman  could  regard  her 
as  legitimately  sovereign.  The  true  heir  of  the  crown  in  his 
eyes  was  Mary  Stuart,  queen  of  Scotland  and  wife  of  the 
king  of  France,  and  she  had  already  assumed  the  arms  and 
style  of  queen  of  England.  England  was  a  small  land, 
and,  even  if  it  had  been  thoroughly  united,  no  match  for  the 
great  Catholic  powers.  It  was  with  great  discretion  that 
Elizabeth  met  the  difficulties  with  which  her  reign  opened, 
and,  though  the  sovereign  became  again  the  head  of  the 
Church,  it  was  some  years  before  the  laws  began  to  bear 
hard  upon  the  Catholics. 

321.  The  Situation  in  the  Netherlands.  —  It  was  in  the 
Netherlands  that  Philip's  plans  received  their  first  decided 


§322]         Netherlands  under  the  Hapsburgs  335 

check,  and  the  opposition  which  they  met  with  there  was   Political 

one  of  the  most  decisive  influences  leading  to  their  final  fail-   cc>nstltutlon- 

ure.     As  we  have  seen,  the  Netherlands  had  descended  to  Reformation, 

Charles  V.  from  his  grandmother,  Mary,  daughter  of  Charles  285-290; 

the  Bold,  duke  of  Burgundy.     Their  political  constitution  ^L°"} 

was  a  peculiar  one  and  had  an  important  bearing  on  the   (Lippincott), 

events  of  this  period.     The  provinces  of  the  Netherlands   Bk-  n-> 

were  seventeen  in  number,  each  a  separate  state,  dating       ap' 

back  to  the  old  feudal  days.     Each  of  these  little  states  was 

entirely  independent  of  all  the  others  politically,  and  had  its 

own  legislature,  laws,  and  government.     The  only  form  of 

union  between  them  was  that  which  is  known  in  modern 

times  as  a  "  personal  union,"  consisting  in  the  fact  that  they 

all  had  the  same  sovereign.     Besides  this  political  separation, 

there  were  more  natural  differences  of  languages,  economic   Separated 

character,  and  to  some  extent  of  former  political  relationship,   l?}0.  !wo 

,.,,..,,  r'    divisions, 

which  divided  the  provinces  into  two  groups.     The  people 

of  the  northern  provinces  spoke  a  German  language,  were 
attracted  by  their  situation  to  the  sea,  which  had  led  them  to 
develop  extensive  fisheries  and  commerce,  and  their  rulers 
had  held  their  lands  under  the  German  emperors.  The 
people  of  the  southern  provinces  spoke  a  dialect  of  French, 
depended  chiefly  in  the  country  on  agriculture  and  in  the 
towns  on  great  manufacturing  industries,  which  had  grown 
up  since  the  crusades,  while  a  considerable  portion  of  them 
had  originally  belonged  on  the  west  side  of  the  boundary 
line  between  France  and  Germany. 

322.  The  Netherlands  under  the  Hapsburgs. — These  Charles  V. 
provinces  had  obtained  from  their  earlier  rulers  very  con- 
siderable political  privileges  in  the  way  of  making  their  laws 
and  voting  their  taxes,  and  to  these  liberties  they  were  de- 
votedly attached.  Charles  V.,  when  he  became  their  sover- 
eign, had  paid  little  attention  to  their  rights  and  had  ruled 
much  as  he  pleased.  But  the  Netherlanders  looked  upon 
him  as  a  native  of  their  country,  and  he  had  also  popular 
qualities  which  won  men  to  grant  him  his  will.  Philip  II., 
however,  seemed  to  them  a  true  Spaniard,  and  he  did  not 


and 
Philip  II. 


336 


The  Age  of  Religions  Wars     [§§  323<  3-4 


Religious 
persecution 
leads  to 
resistance. 


Philip's 

measures 

and  their 

effect. 

Prescott, 

Philip  II., 

Bk.  II., 

Chap.  II.; 

Motley, 

Dutch 

Republic,  I. 

261-268; 

Hausser, 

Reformation, 

290-306. 

Indepen- 
dence 
declared. 
Old  South, 

72; 

Johnson, 
Periods, 
Chap.  VIII.; 
Hausser, 


appear  to  care  to  be  thought  anything  else.  His  dark  and 
forbidding  manners  made  him  no  friends,  and  when  he 
began  to  advance  further  even  than  Charles  in  the  way  of 
arbitrary  government,  his  measures  excited  an  opposition 
which  his  father  had  never  met. 

323.  The  Beginning  of  Resistance  to  Fhilip.  —  Spanish 
officials  in  the  place  of  native,  and  garrisons  of  Spanish 
troops,  even  heavier  taxes  than  they  had  ever  yet  paid, 
arbitrarily  laid,  might  not  have  led  to  open  rebellion.  When 
to  these  was  added  religious  persecution,  armed  resistance 
followed.  Protestantism  had  made  its  way  into  the  German 
provinces  of  the  north,  coming  in  the  end  to  be  of  a  Cal- 
vinistic  type,  while  the  provinces  of  the  south  had  remained 
Catholic, — another  and  finally  one  of  the  most  important  dif- 
ferences between  the  two  groups.  This  heretical  religion, 
of  course,  Philip  could  not  tolerate.  His  own  provinces 
must  all  be  Catholic  whatever  the  rest  of  the  world  might 
be.  The  introduction  of  the  Spanish  inquisition,  the  division 
of  the  country  into  numerous  new  bishoprics  for  its  better 
control,  and  the  merciless  execution  of  heretics  led  to  the 
first  steps  in  resistance.  The  nobles  protested  against  the 
invasion  of  their  political  privileges.  The  Protestants  united 
and  drew  up  the  Compromise  of  Breda,  a  declaration  of 
their  rights.  They  took  in  earnest  the  name  of  Beggars,  — 
Gueux,  —  which  had  been  given  them  in  derision,  and  ac- 
cepted as  their  leader  William  of  Nassau,  Prince  of  Orange, 
one  of  the  richest  nobles  of  the  country,  a  man  brave  and 
prudent,  who  was  called  William  the  Silent,  from  a  wise 
habit  of  holding  his  tongue. 

324.  The  Independence  of  the  United  Netherlands.  — The 
conflict  was  obstinately  fought  on  both  sides,  and  long  unde- 
cided. The  military  skill,  the  thousands  of  executions  and 
unheard-of  exactions  of  the  duke  of  Alva  were  of  no  avail. 
The  country  might  be  almost  ruined,  but  the  Catholic  prov- 
inces were  driven  to  take  part  with  the  Protestant  against 
the  Spanish  troops.  A  somewhat  milder  policy  which  fol- 
lowed succeeded  no  better  in  the  main  purpose.     Though 


§  324]    Independence  of  the  United  Netherlands      337 


the  Catholic  provinces  in  the  end  remained  under  the  Span- 
ish rule,  the  Protestant  laid  the  foundations  of  a  new  govern- 
ment in  the  Union  of  Utrecht  in  1579,  and  soon  after 
declared  their  complete  independence  of  Spain.  It  was 
more  than  twenty-five  years,  however,  before  they  obtained 
peace  and  a  recognition  of  their  independence.  William 
the  Silent  was  murdered  in  1584,  but  his  son  Maurice  suc- 


Reformation, 
Pt.  V., 
Chaps. 
XXIII.  and 
XXIV. 

Indepen- 
dence 
recognized. 


William  the  Silent 

ceeded  him.  Elizabeth  of  England  sent  the  Netherlanders 
some  little  aid,  but  their  greatest  relief  came  from  the  great 
loss  which  Philip  met  with  in  the  destruction  of  the  Armada, 
and  from  his  taking  part  in  the  civil  war  in  France.  At  last, 
just  before  his  death,  Philip  gave  the  Netherlands  to  his  son- 
in-law,  the  archduke  of  Austria,  and  he,  after  failing  in  his 
turn  to  conquer  them,  recognized  in  1609  the  independence 
of  the  seven  United  Provinces,  and  this  was  formally  con- 
ceded by  the  public  law  of  Europe  in  the  peace  of  West- 
phalia in  1648. 


338 


The  Age  of  Religious  Wars     [§§  325?  326 


Civil  strife 
continued. 


Growth  of 
Protestant 
feeling  in 
England. 


The  earlier 

life  of  Mary 

Stuart. 

Creighton, 

Elizabeth, 

65-82. 


The  close  of  the  war  for  independence  was  not  the  end 
of  troubles  for  the  Dutch.  Civil  and  religious  conflict  fol- 
lowed, between  a  monarchical  party  led  by  the  house  of 
Nassau,  holding  to  the  strict  Calvinistic  faith,  and  a  repub- 
lican party  which  accepted  the  teachings  of  Arminius  (d. 
1609),  who  rejected  predestination  and  the  theology  founded 
upon  it,  and  built  an  opposing  system  upon  the  basis  of  hu- 
man free  will.  The  monarchical  party  finally  triumphed,  and 
the  leader  of  the  republican,  Oldenbarnevelt,  was  executed. 

325.  England.  —  In  his  plans  for  the  recovery  of  England 
for  the  Catholic  Church,  Philip  had  no  better  fortune.  The 
method  of  his  warfare,  attack  by  conspiracy  and  revolution 
upon  a  government  which  all  Englishmen  of  whatever  faith  re- 
garded as  the  legal  and  constitutional  government,  identified 
in  the  minds  of  the  mass  of  the  people  the  cause  of  Protes- 
tantism with  that  of  national  independence,  and  began  that 
deep-seated  fear  of  the  political  designs  of  the  Catholic 
Church  which  has  been  in  the  past,  at  least,  a  characteristic 
of  Anglo-Saxon  Protestantism. 

326.  Mary  Queen  of  Scots.  —  The  character  of  Mary 
Stuart,  the  Catholic  candidate  for  Elizabeth's  throne,  was  not 
a  help  to  her  supporters.  A  daughter  of  Mary  of  Guise, 
brought  up  from  infancy  at  the  French  court  as  the  future 
wife  of  Francis  II.,  light  hearted  and  fond  of  amusement, 
and  enjoying  intensely  the  lively  society  of  Paris,  she  was 
forced,  when  only  nineteen,  by  the  death  of  her  husband  to 
return  to  Scotland,  which  had  been  lately  converted  by  the 
uncompromising  John  Knox  to  the  austere  faith  of  Calvin. 
It  is  not  strange  that  Mary  was  unable  to  adapt  herself 
exactly  to  the  situation.  The  crisis  was  reached  upon  her 
marriage  to  the  earl  of  Bothwell  within  a  few  months  of  the 
murder  of  her  second  husband,  Lord  Darnley,  —  a  murder 
which  it  was  supposed  Bothwell  had  committed,  perhaps 
with  the  connivance  of  Mary.  To  avoid  the  storm  which 
this  aroused,  she  abdicated  in  favor  of  James  VI.,  her  infant 
son  by  Darnley,  and  fled  to  England  to  seek  refuge  with  her 
cousin  and  sister  queen,  Elizabeth. 


§  326]  Mary  Queen  of  Scots  339 

The  presence  of  Mary  in   England  was  a   considerable   The  execu- 
embarrassment  to  Elizabeth,  who  could  hardly  fail  to  sym-   tlon  of  Marx- 
pathize  with   her   troubles   as   a   sovereign.     But   political 
necessity  seemed  to  her  and  to  her  ministers  to  indicate  but 


Queen  Ei.tzareth 

one  safe  course,  and  Mary  was  imprisoned.     She  did  not  Froude, 

cease,  however,  in   confinement,    to  be   made   the   centre  En£land, 

of  plots  against  Elizabeth,  nor  to    be    recognized    by   the  xxxiv.; 
pope  and  the  king  of  Spain  as  the  rightful  queen  of  England. 


34Q 


The  Age  of  Religious  Wars     [§§  327,  32& 


Creighton, 
Elizabeth, 
175-178. 
The  petition 
of  Parlia- 
ment, 
Prothero, 
109. 

Reasons  for 
the  conquest 
of  England. 


The  destruc- 
tion of  the 
Armada, 
1588. 


The  demand 
for  a  more 
complete 
reformation. 


Finally,  after-  she  had  been  imprisoned  nineteen  years,  a 
conspiracy  was  detected  which  involved  the  murder  of 
Elizabeth  as  well  as  the  overthrow  of  the  government,  and, 
as  the  evidence  seemed  to  indicate  a  guilty  knowledge  on 
the  part  of  Mary,  Elizabeth,  with  real  or  feigned  reluctance, 
consented  to  her  execution. 

327.  The  Invincible  Armada.  — The  execution  of  Mary, 
the  aid  which  Elizabeth  was  giving  to  the  revolted  Nether- 
landers,  and  the  injuries  which  Spanish  commerce  was 
receiving  from  the  English  cruisers  now  determined  Philip 
to  exert  all  his  strength,  overwhelming  as  he  believed  and 
as  England  feared,  and  with  one  blow  be  revenged  upon  the 
upstart  little  kingdom,  and  restore  a  lost  province  to  the 
Church. 

In  the  summer  of  1588,  the  Invincible  Armada  set  sail. 
All  England,  Catholic  and  Protestant  alike,  rallied  to  oppose 
it.  The  smaller  but  swifter  and  better  handled  English 
ships  sailed  around,  and  clung  to  the  skirts  of  the  great 
Spanish  fleet  and,  in  a  nine  days'  continuous  battle  as  it 
passed  through  the  Channel,  practically  defeated  it.  As 
the  remaining  ships  were  attempting  to  return  to  Spain  by 
sailing  around  Scotland  and  Ireland,  they  were  dispersed 
by  storms,  and  hardly  one-third  reached  home.  This  was 
a  great  blow  to  the  naval  supremacy,  the  resources,  and 
the  prestige  of  Spain  from  which  she  never  recovered.  It 
was,  also,  the  last  attempt  of  Philip  II.  to  conquer  England, 
but  it  was  only  the  beginning  of  the  English  triumphs 
over  Spain,  so  intimately  connected  with  the  rise  of  her 
commercial  and  colonial  empire,  which  we  shall  study  in 
another  place. 

328.  The  Rise  of  the  Puritan  Party. — The  troubles  of 
Elizabeth  with  the  Catholics,  did  not  exhaust  her  religious 
difficulties.  The  English  Church  had  retained  many  things 
in  its  forms  which  had  belonged  to  the  old  Church,  and  this 
was  true  to  some  extent,  also,  of  its  teachings.  But  many  in 
England  had  accepted  the  full  teachings  of  Calvin.  During 
the  reign  of  Mary  numbers  had  taken  refuge  from  persecu- 


§  329]  Opposing  Parties  in  France  341 

tion  in  Geneva,  and  they  had  returned,  hoping  to  establish 
Calvinism  in  England.  These  men  now  refused  to  con- 
form to  the  English  Church,  but  for  opposite  reasons  from 
those  of  the  Catholics.  For  them  the  Reformation  had  not 
gone  far  enough.  This  party  was  itself  divided  into  two. 
One,  for  a  long  time  the  most  numerous  and  influential  in 
England,  was  the  Puritan,  so  called  from  its  desire  to  purify 
the  Church  from  jill  Catholic  form.  They  believed,  however, 
in  a  national,  established  Church.  The  other  party,  for 
many  years  small  and  obscure,  was  sometimes  called  the 
Brownist,  from  one  of  its  leaders,  and  sometimes  the 
Separatist  from  its  special  teaching  that  each  separate 
church  should  be  an  independent,  democratic  community, 
determining  all  questions  for  itself. 

The  government   felt   obliged   to   punish  these  extreme  The  Pilgrims 
Protestants  for  non-conformity,  as  it  did  the  Catholics,  and  in  Holland. 
soon  after  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  closed,  a  community  of   Genes)s  0t 
the  Separatists  took  refuge  in  Holland  from  this  persecution,  New  Eng. 
and  some  years  later  still  formed  the  little  colony  of  Plymouth    Churches> 

20Q~~ 227 

in  New  England.     Many  Puritans   coming   later   to   New 
England   organized  there  churches  of  the  Separatist  type,   England, 
and  these  are  known  in  the  history  of  America  as  Con-   Old  South, 
gregational,  while  those  retaining  more  nearly  the  original  5S' 
Puritan  organization  are  known  as  Presbyterian. 

329.  The  Opposing  Parties  in  France.  —  For  France,  the  An  unhappy 
last  half  of  the  sixteenth  century  was  a  most  unhappy  period  of 
period.  Ravaged  by  constantly  recurring  civil  wars,  reli- 
gious in  form  but  somewhat  selfish  in  character  and  revo- 
lutionary in  purpose,  and  ruled  by  incompetent  kings  and 
an  utterly  corrupt  court,  government  was  almost  undone 
and  all  classes  and  interests  suffered  severely.  The  Protes- 
tants of  France,  as  we  have  seen,  differed  from  those  of 
other  countries  in  the  fact  that  they  formed  a  great  political 
party  in  the  nation,  led  by  powerful  nobles  and  princes  of 
the  royal  family,  and  strove  to  secure  their  main  object,  a 
kind  of  independent  position  in  the  State,  quite  as  much 
from  political  as  from  religious  reasons. 


342 


The  Age  of  Religious  Wars 


[§33o 


Government 
follows  no 
consistent 
policy. 
Penn.  III., 
No.  3; 
Zeller,  XIV. 


Catherine 
de"  Medici 
and  her 
policy. 
Kitchin, 
France,  II. 
294-310 ; 
Zeller.  XV. 


The  first  war. 
Vassy,  1562. 
Baird, 
Rise  of  the 
Huguenots 
(Scribner), 
II.  19-26. 


The 

Huguenots 
a  state 
within  the 
State. 


The  Reformation  had  an  independent  and  early  beginning 
in  France,  but  it  received  much  aid  from  the  German  move- 
ment, and  still  more  from  Calvin.  At  first  the  government 
paid  little  attention  to  it,  but  finally  Francis  I.  and  Henry  II. 
adopted  the  policy  of  repression,  irregularly  carried  out. 
During  the  short  reign  of  Francis  II.,  the  same  policy  was 
continued,  as  the  king  was  under  the  control  of  the  Guises, 
the  uncles  ot  his  wife  Mary  Stuart,  and  they  were  devoted 
Catholics. 

On  his  death,  in  1560,  his  brother,  Charles  IX.,  became 
king  at  the  age  of  ten.  His  mother,  Catherine  de'  Medici, 
an  ambitious  woman,  but  up  to  this  time  without  influence 
upon  public  affairs,  now  resolved  to  rule  in  the  name  of  her 
son.  This  she  hoped  to  accomplish  by  balancing  the 
Catholic  party  of  the  Guises  with  the  Protestant  party  led 
by  the  Bourbon  princes,  Antony  of  Navarre  and  his  brother, 
the  Prince  of  Conde.  This  was  a  very  difficult  part  to  play 
on  account  of  the  bitterness  of  faction,  and,  though  Cath- 
erine was  aided  by  the  unusual  abilities  of  her  minister,  the 
Chancellor  L'Hopital,  who  was  tolerant  from  conviction,  it 
was  not  an  entirely  successful  policy. 

330.  The  Huguenot  Civil  Wars.  —  The  first  civil  war 
began  by  the  massacre  of  Vassy,  in  which  the  attendants 
of  Francis  of  Guise,  who  was  on  his  way  to  Paris,  attacked 
and  killed  many  of  a  Protestant  community  who  were  wor- 
shipping in  a  barn.  From  this  time  on  for  thirty  years 
there  was  a  constant  succession  of  wars,  separated  from  one 
another  by  brief  intervals  of  what  was  called  peace,  but  which 
differed  from  war  only  in  the  fact  that  the  strife  was  carried 
on  by  intrigues  at  the  court  rather  than  on  the  battlefield. 

The  peace  of  St.  Germain,  which  closed  the  third  war, 
is  the  most  important  peace  in  the  series,  and  the  interval 
between  that  and  the  beginning  of  the  fourth  war,  the 
most  important  interval.  The  peace  granted  to  the  Hugue- 
nots four  strong  fortress  towns  of  France,  which  they  were 
to  hold  and  control  entirely  independently  of  the  govern- 
ment.    This  was  done  to  give  them  a  feeling  of  security. 


§  33  0  The  First  of  the  Bourbons  343 

and  as  a  kind  of  pledge  that  the  terms  of  the  peace  would 

be  honestly  kept,  but  it  had  the  effect  of  giving  them  a 

basis  of  political  organization  and  of  making  them  a  little 

state  within  the  State. 

In  the  interval  before  the  next  war  the  effort  to  bring  Coiigny  and 

Protestant  and  Catholic  together  was  more  nearly  successful  the  massaC1^ 

*  .  ,  ^  TX  of  St.  Bar- 

man at  any  other  time.     1  he  marriage  of  the  young  Henry   tholomew, 

of  Navarre,  now  the  head  of  the  Huguenots,  with  the  king's   1572. 
sister,  Margaret  of  Valois,  was  to  cement  the  union,  and  ^og\ 
many  of  the  most  prominent  Protestants  were  attracted  to  History,  III. 
the  festivities  at  Paris.     The  Admiral  Coiigny,  the  ablest  of  27°-279; 
the  Huguenot  nobles  and  one  of  the  ablest   Frenchmen   Huguenots 
of  the  time,  acquired  a  decided  influence  over  the  mind  of  Chap, 
the  young  king.     He  wished  to  return  to  the  policy  of  ex-  XVIII«; 
tending  French  territory  in  the  Rhine  valley,  and  to  turn  weyman, 
the  energies  of  the  nation  from  civil  strife  to  foreign  con-    House  of  the 
quest.   The  king  was  on  the  point  of  action,  but  his  mother,    Y°^ w 
Catherine  de'  Medici,  began  to  be  alarmed   at  Coligny's 
influence  and  to  fear  the  loss  of  her  hold  on  power.     An 
attempt  to  assassinate  the  admiral  failed.     Then  the  king 
was  with  difficulty  persuaded  of  a  general  Huguenot  plot, 
and  gave  the  orders  which  led  to  the  massacre  of  St.  Bar- 
tholomew.  Thousands  were  murdered  in  Paris  and  through- 
out France,  but  a  new  spirit  filled  those  that  survived,  and 
the  Catholics  gained  little  in  the  end. 

331.    The  First  of  the  Bourbons.  —  On  both  sides,  mur-  The  last  of 
ders  were  frequent  during  these  wars,  and  many  of  the   theValois« 
leaders  perished   by  assassination.     In  1574,  Charles   IX. 
was  succeeded  by  his  brother,  Henry  III.,  the  last  of  the 
Valois.     He  was  ambitious  to  rule  and  wished  to  form  a 
party   of  his   own,  but   he   could   not.     After   having   the 
duke  of  Guise  murdered  almost  in  the  royal  presence,  he 
was  himself  murdered  in   1589.     By  his  death,  Henry  of 
Navarre  was  left  the  rightful  king  of  France.     A  long  strug-    Henry  IV. 
gle  was  necessary,  however,  before  he  obtained  full  posses-   ^1.1,?r'  XVI1, 
sion  of  the  throne,  and  among  other  things  required  was  Henry  of 
his  conversion  to  the  Catholic  faith,  probably  not  a  diffi- 


344 


The  Age  of  Religious  Wars     [§§  332>  333 


cult  thing  for  him,  as  he  was  not  a  man  of  deep  convic- 
tions. 

By  1598  the  wars  were  over.  England,  which  had  hoped 
to  gain  something  at  the  expense  of  France  by  alliance 
with  the  Huguenots,  and  Spain  by  alliance  with  the  Catho- 
lics, were  both  repulsed ;  the  rebellious  nobles  and  cities 
were  forced  to  submit  to  a  reestablishment  of  strong  royal 
authority,  and  Henry  could  carry  out  his  plans  for  the 
restoration  of  prosperity  to  France,  wise  according  to  the 
knowledge  of  the  time,  in  which  he  had  the  aid  of  his  great 
minister,  Sully.  The  rights  of  the  Protestants  were  secured 
and  toleration  made  the  law  of  the  State  by  the  edict  of 
Nantes  of  April  13,  1598,  which  served  its  purpose  for 
almost  a  hundred  years. 

332.  The  Foreign  Plans  of  Henry  IV.  —  Having  secured 
the  internal  peace  and  begun  the  economic  recovery  of 
France,  Henry  IV.  was  just  about  to  renew  the  policy 
of  conquest  in  the  Rhine  valley,  when  he  was  assassinated, 
in  16 10.  Had  Henry  been  granted  a  few  years  longer,  he 
would  probably  have  made  larger  conquests  in  this  region 
than  Louis  XIV.  a  century  later,  and  at  much  less  cost,  for 
Germany  was  just  on  the  eve  of  civil  war,  Spain  was  ex- 
hausted by  the  losses  and  mistakes  of  the  last  half  century, 
and  England  and  Holland  would  not  have  been  ready  to 
oppose  the  designs  of  France  as  they  were  a  hundred  years 
later.  As  it  was,  France  fell  back  for  many  years  into 
weakness  and  internal  confusion.  Louis  XIII.  was  not  yet 
ten.  His  mother,  Mary  de'  Medici,  did  not  know  how  to 
rule,  and  the  nobles  and  leaders  of  all  parties  proved  utterly 
selfish  and  corrupt. 

333.  The  Beginning  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War.  —  While 
France  was  torn  with  civil  war,  and  Spain  was  exhausting 
herself  in  efforts  to  conquer  the  revolted  Netherlands  and 
to  overthrow  Protestantism  in  western  Europe,  Germany 
was  slowly  drifting  toward  a  civil  war,  the  most  terrible 
in  its  effects  of  any  known  to  civilized  history.  The  immedi- 
ate successors  of  Charles  V.,  Ferdinand  I.  and  Maximilian  II., 


§  333]      Beginning  of  the   Thirty    Years'    War        345 

were  liberal-minded  princes,  and  Protestantism  made  con- 
siderable advances  even  in  the  Austrian  territories.  The 
later  emperors,  especially  Rudolf  II,  and  Ferdinand  II.,  were 
entirely  under  the  influence  of  the  Jesuits,  and  determined 
to  restore  Catholicism  wherever  possible.  Each  party  in 
the  Empire  had  some  reason  to  complain  of  the  unfairness 
with  which  the  other  interpreted  the  terms  of  the  peace  of 
Augsburg.      The  Protestants  had  managed,  contrary  to  its 


A  Soldier  of  the  Thirty  Years*  War 

spirit  at  least,  to  retain  the  endowments  and  government 
of  several  ecclesiastical  states  which  had  been  converted. 
In  1607,  Maximilian  of  Bavaria,  taking  advantage  of  a 
quarrel  which  had  arisen  between  the  citizens  and  a  mon- 
astery, had  seized  the  Protestant  free  city  of  Donauworth  and 
had  reestablished  Catholicism  there.  The  Protestant  states 
then  formed  the  "Union,"  under  the  lead  of  the  Elector 
of  the  Palatinate.  Immediately  the  Catholics  formed  the 
"  League,"  with  Maximilian  at  its  head. 


346 


The  Age  of  Religious  Wars     [§§  334,  335 


The  out- 
break in 
Bohemia. 
Gindely, 
Thirty  Years' 
War 

(Putnams), 
Chap.  II.; 
Gardiner, 
Thirty  Years' 
War 

(Epochs), 
Chap.  II., 
Sec.  2; 
Maurice, 
Bohemia 
(Nations), 
Chap.  XVII. 

The  over- 
throw of 
Frederick. 
Gardiner, 
Chap.  III., 
Sec.  1 ; 
Gindely,  I., 
Chap.  VI. 


The  rise  of 

Wallenstein 

and  his 

methods. 

Gindely,  I. 

379-386; 

Gardiner, 

Chap.  V., 

Sec.  3.    See 

later  edict 

deposing 

him, 

Schilling, 

Quellenbuch, 

MS 


334.  The  Bohemian  Period  of  the  War.  —  War  did  not 
begin,  however,  for  some  years,  and  then  in  consequence  of 
the  efforts  of  Ferdinand  to  favor  Catholicism  in  Bohemia, 
where  nearly  all  the  people  were  Protestants.  The  destruc- 
tion of  a  Protestant  church  in  Prague,  in  161 8,  led  to  open 
hostilities.  The  people  rose,  threw  the  Catholic  councillors 
of  Ferdinand  out  of  a  window  of  the  castle,  after  the  Bohe- 
mian fashion,  deposed  the  king,  and  elected  in  his  place, 
Frederick,  the  Elector  Palatine.  He  was  the  head  of  the 
Union,  and  son-in-law  of  James  I.  of  England,  but  the  aid 
which  was  expected  from  these  sources  did  not  come.  On 
the  other  hand,  Ferdinand  had  the  support  of  Bavaria, 
Spain,  and  even  of  Protestant  Saxony,  and  in  Tilly  had  a 
general  far  superior  to  any  on  the  Bohemian  side.  The 
first  period  of  the  war  was  soon  over.  Frederick  was  de- 
feated in  the  battle  of  the  White  Mountain,  driven  from 
his  new  kingdom,  lost  his  dominions  in  the  Palatinate,  and 
even  his  electoral  office,  which  was  given  to  Maximilian 
of  Bavaria,  and  never  was  able  to  recover  his  position. 
Bohemia  was  left  at  the  mercy  of  Ferdinand,  who  deprived 
the  Protestants  of  their  rights  and  established  Catholicism 
by  force. 

335.  The  Danish  Period.  —  These  successes  of  the  house 
of  Austria,  won  partly  by  the  help  of  Spanish  troops,  and 
these  violations  of  constitutional  right,  at  last  led  the  other 
Protestant  states  of  the  Empire  to  fear  for  their  own  safety. 
The  king  of  Denmark,  Christian  IV.,  a  German  prince,  as 
duke  of  Holstein  interfered,  and  the  Danish  period  of  the 
war  began  in  1624.  In  this  period,  Wallenstein  appeared  in 
the  service  of  Ferdinand,  at  the  head  of  a  great  army  which 
he  supported  and  paid  without  expense  to  the  emperor  by 
the  plunder  of  the  country  through  which  he  passed.  In 
carrying  out  this  plan  of  making  war  pay  its  own  expenses, 
he  made  but  little  distinction  between  friend  and  foe,  and 
as  his  method  was  generally  adopted  by  the  other  command- 
ers, and  as  the  armies  came  to  be  composed  of  adventurers 
and  professional  soldiers  from  all  parts  of  Europe,  attracted 


§  336]  Sweden  and  France  347 

by  the  privilege  of  living  as  licensed  freebooters,  the  suf- 
ferings of  the  German  people  can  be  easily  imagined. 

Success  was  still  on  the  Catholic  side.     Tilly  and  Wallen-   The  edict  of 
stein  were  more  than  a  match  for  the  leaders  on  the  other   Restltution. 

Gardiner, 

side,  the  king  of  Denmark  was  driven  out,  north  Germany  chap.  VII.; 
was  almost  wholly  subdued,  and  Wallenstein  was  given  the  Gindely,  1. 
confiscated  duchy  of  Mecklenburg,  which  should  be  held  by  a  JJ*   ,; 
reigning  prince.    As  a  result  of  these  successes,  the  emperor  Schilling, 
issued  in  1629  the  edict  of  Restitution,  which  marks  the    Queiienbuch, 
highest  point  of  his  success  and  shows  what  would   have 
followed  his   complete   triumph.      This   edict  ordered   the 
restoration  to  the  Catholic  Church  of  all  endowments  and 
ecclesiastical    governments   which   has   become   Protestant 
since  the  peace  of  Augsburg.     As  many  of  these  were  cases 
of  genuine  conversion,  and  as  it  affected  all  parts  of  Ger- 
many, it  was  an  edict  which  could  have  been  carried  out 
only  by  an  arbitrary  exercise  of  absolute  power. 

336.    Sweden  and  France.  —  But  a  change  was  now  at  The 
hand  in  the   character   of  the  war,  which   marks  a   great   ambition  of 

"  Sweden  and 

change  in  the  deeper  currents  of  history  at  large.  Two  ofGustavus 
nations  of  Europe  had  been  for  some  years  watching  events  Adoiphus. 
in  Germany  with  increasing  interest.  One  of  these  was 
Sweden  on  the  north.  Sweden  was  at  that  time  a  much 
larger  and  more  powerful  state  than  it  has  been  in  recent 
history.  The  eastern  shore  and  the  southeastern  corner  of 
the  Baltic  were  in  its  possession,  and  it  was  ambitious  of 
making  that  sea  wholly  a  Swedish  lake.  During  the  first 
years  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War  it  had  been  engaged  in  a 
war  with  the  kingdom  of  Poland,  partly  with  this  in  view. 
Its  king  was  now  Gustavus  Adoiphus,  a  young  man  with  the 
ambition  which  conscious  ability  always  gives  —  a  military 
genius  who  was  at  the  same  time  a  most  devoted  and 
sincere  Protestant,  ready  to  avenge  the  injuries  of  the  Ger- 
man Protestants  on  religious  grounds,  even  if  the  interests 
of  Sweden  had  not  been  at  the  same  time  served. 

The  other  country  was  France.     During  the  minority  of 
Louis  XIII.,  and  for  a  few  years  after,  France  had  been 


348 


The  Age  of  Religions  Wars 


[§337 


The  rise  and  abandoned  to  faction,  to  intrigues,  and  strife  of  the  most  self- 
general  jsh  sortj  wnich  had  reduced  the  royal  authority  to  almost 
Richelieu.  ^  l°w  a  point  as  during  the  civil  wars,  and  prevented  the 
country  from  taking  any  part  in  European  affairs.  But  in 
1624  Richelieu  had  come  into  power.  From  this  date,  for 
almost  twenty  years,  he  followed,  without  wavering,  a  clear 
and  definite  policy  in  internal  affairs  the  supremacy  of  the 


Gustavus  Adolphus 


king,  and  in  external  affairs  the  dominion  of  France  in  Eu- 
rope. To  accomplish  these  things  required,  in  France,  the 
overthrow  of  the  political  independence  of  the  Huguenots 
and  of  the  power  of  the  nobles,  and  in  Europe,  the  over- 
throw of  the  house  of  Austria,  and  these  form  the  special 
objects  of  Richelieu's  policy. 

337.     Richelieu  centralizes  France.  —  Richelieu  began  to 
carry  out  his   foreign  policy  almost   as  soon  as  he  became 


338]     Richelieu  and  the   Thirty  Years    War        349 


minister,  by  preventing  the  Spanish  from  getting  possession 
of  the  Valteline  pass  in  northern  Italy,  the  key  to  the  line  of 
communication  between  the  lands  of  the  Spanish  Hapsburgs 
in  Italy  and  those  of  the  Austrian  Hapsburgs  in  Germany. 
But  he  found  out  at  once  that  France  was  not  prepared  for  a 
successful  struggle  for  European  supremacy  until  it  was  thor- 
oughly centralized  at  home.  The  conflict  with  the  Huguenots 
was  over  comparatively  soon.  Their  strongest  fortress,  La 
Rochelle,  was  taken  in  1628,  after  a  famous  siege  and  in  spite 
of  the  efforts  of  England  to  prevent  it.  But  little  further 
resistance  was  possible  for  them,  and  in  1629  Richelieu 
issued  the  edict  of  Alais,  which  deprived  them  of  the  politi- 
cal independence,  the  position  of  a  state  within  the  State, 
which  the  edict  of  Nantes  had  granted  them,  but  left  all 
their  religious  privileges  and  liberties  untouched. 

The  conflict  with  the  nobles  lasted  much  longer,  all 
through  the  life  of  Richelieu  and  even  on  into  the  ministry 
of  Mazarin,  but  they  were  in  the  end  entirely  subdued.  They 
fought  with  intrigue  and  conspiracy,  in  which  the  king's 
mother,  his  wife,  and  his  brother  Gaston,  often  had  a  part, 
and  which  were  as  often  directed  at  the  life  as  at  the  power 
of  Richelieu.  The  minister's  weapons  were  the  law  and 
judicial  executions  which  removed  some  of  the  highest 
nobles  of  the  kingdom.  His  strongest  support  was  the  fact 
that  Louis  XIII.  understood  and  heartily  approved  his  policy, 
so  that  the  most  powerful  influences  of  the  court  could  not 
turn  him  against  his  minister.  The  success  of  Richelieu's 
policy  gave  the  finishing  touches  to  the  absolute  monarchy 
and  made  the  king's  will  supreme  without  a  check. 

338.  Richelieu  and  the  Thirty  Years'  War.  —  At  the  date 
of  Ferdinand's  edict  of  Restitution,  Richelieu  was  not  quite 
ready  for  open  interference  in  the  war  in  Germany,  but  he 
was  ready  to  assist  others  to  prevent  any  further  extension 
of  the  Austrian  power.  He  aided  the  electors  in  forcing 
the  emperor  to  dismiss  Wallenstein,  whose  army  they  feared 
might  be  used  to  destroy  their  independence.  He  inter- 
fered to  make  peace  between  the  Swedes  and  Poland  so  that 


The  inde- 
pendence 
of  the 
Huguenots 
broken. 


The  nobles 

subdued. 

Bulwer, 

Richelieu 

(drama). 


Indirect 
interference. 


35o 


The  Age  of  Religious  Wars 


[§338 


Gustavus  Adolphus  might  be  at  liberty  to  give  his  whole 
attention  to  the  Protestant  cause  in  Germany,  and  he  after- 
wards supported  the  Swedish  army  with  liberal  supplies. 

These  events  meant  of  course  that  a  new  directing  influ- 
ence was  entering  into  the  religious  war.  Richelieu  was  a 
Catholic.  He  was  a  cardinal  of  the  Church.  But  the  great 
objects  of  his  life  were  political  without  reference  to  religion. 


Richelieu 


He  made  war  on  the  Huguenots,  but  left  them  all  their  re- 
ligious rights.  He  supported  Protestant  armies  and  sent  his 
own  to  fight  on  that  side,  that  he  might  weaken  the  Austrian 
power  and  put  France  at  the  head  of  Europe.  This  is  the 
passing  away  of  the  Reformation  as  an  influence  which  con- 
trols international  politics  and  the  action  of  States,  and  the 
beginning  again  of  the  conflict  by  diplomacy  and  war  for 
national  aggrandizement. 


§§  339>  34°]   Deaths  of  Gustavus  and  Wallenstein    351 


339.  Gustavus  Adolphus  in  Germany.  —  The  great  man  of 
the  Thirty  Years'  War  was  Gustavus  Adolphus,  a  most  inter- 
esting study  both  from  his  positive  characteristics  and  from 
his  apparent  contradictions.  Most  earnestly  devoted  to  the 
Protestant  faith,  and  at  the  head  of  an  equally  devoted  army 
which  he  held  under  strict  discipline,  he  was  still  ambitious 
for  himself  and  desirous  of  conquest  for  his  country.  A 
military  genius,  the  equal  or  even  the  superior  of  Wallen- 
stein, and  an  innovator  who  revolutionized  the  art  of  war  by 
the  lighter  arms  and  more  mobile  arrangements  which  he  gave 
his  troops,  he  won  a  remarkable  series  of  successes  from  which 
he  gained  no  corresponding  advantages,  and  he  died  in  the 
midst  of  his  career  at  the  moment  of  victory  over  Wallenstein. 

The  interference  of  the  Swedes  in  Germany  was  not 
altogether  welcome  to  the  more  powerful  of  the  Protestant 
princes,  who  feared  their  ulterior  designs.  So  long  was  Gus- 
tavus Adolphus  in  forcing  his  way  through  the  territories  of 
the  Elector  of  Brandenburg  that  the  great  city  of  Magdeburg 
fell  before  the  assaults  of  Tilly,  and  was  almost  totally  de- 
stroyed, probably  by  its  own  defenders  to  deprive  the  victors 
of  their  advantage.  This  loss  was  soon  made  up  by  the 
great  victory  which  Gustavus  won  from  Tilly  in  the  battle  of 
Breitenfdd,  near  Leipsic.  This  defeat  left  the  emperor 
without  an  army  capable  of  holding  the  Swedes  in  check, 
but  the  plans  of  Gustavus  seem  at  this  time  to  have  been  di- 
rected to  other  objects  than  the  overthrow  of  the  emperor. 
Ferdinand  was  obliged  to  recall  Wallenstein  in  order  to  get 
a  new  army,  and  gave  him  a  position  almost  entirely  inde- 
pendent of  control. 

340.  The  Death  of  Gustavus  and  of  Wallenstein.  —  In  the 
next  year  Gustavus  entered  Munich  after  again  defeating 
Tilly,  who  was  mortally  wounded,  but  Wallenstein  prevented 
his  further  advance  and  then  drew  him  off  into  Saxony, 
where,  in  the  battle  of  Ltitzen,  Gustavus  was  killed,  though 
the  army  of  Wallenstein  was  defeated.  The  policy  of  Gus- 
tavus was  continued  by  Oxenstern,  the  minister  of  the  little 
Queen  Christina,  and  the  Swedish  army  remained  in  Ger- 


The  char- 
acter and 
genius  of 
Gustavus 
Adolphus. 


Gindely,  II. 

39-46; 

Fletcher, 

Gustavus 

Adolphus 

(Heroes) ; 

Dodge, 

Gustavus 

Adolphus 

(Military 

History, 

Houghton). 

The  victories 
of  the 
Swedes. 
Gardiner, 
Chap.  VIII.; 
Gindely,  II. 
82-147. 

Magdeburg. 
Gindely,  II. 

55-67; 
contempo- 
rary account 
in  Schilling, 
Quellenbuch, 
126. 


The  death  of 

Gustavus, 

1632. 


352 


The  Age  of  Religious  Wars  [§  34 1 


Wallenstein 
assassinated, 
1634. 

Gindely,  II. 
172-188 ; 
Gardiner, 
Chap.  IX., 
Sec.  4 ; 
Schiller, 
Wallen- 
stein's  Lager, 


many  till  the  close  of  the  war,  through  the  days  of  its  great 
successes  were  past. 

The  death  of  Gustavus  more  than  balanced,  for  the  em- 
peror's cause,  the  defeat  of  Wallenstein,  and  it  was  followed 
by  other  successes.  Not  long  after,  the  emperor  became 
convinced  that  Wallenstein  was  engaged  in  tieasonable  cor- 
respondence with  the  enemy,  and  was  planning  to  use  his 
army  in  some  design  of  his  own,  and  he  had  him  killed,  but 
was  able  to  retain  the  services  of  his  army.  The  successes 
of  Ferdinand  were  crowned  when,  in  1635,  the  Elector  of 


Swedish  Leather  Cannon 

From  the  time  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War 


Die  Picco- 
lomini,  and 
Wallen- 
stein s  Tod 
(dramas). 

Richelieu 
actively 
interferes. 
Gardiner, 
Chap.  X. 

The  French 
successes 
compel 
peace. 


Saxony,  to  secure  certain  advantages  for  himself,  made  a 
separate  peace  and  even  an  alliance  with  the  emperor. 

341.  The  French  Period  of  the  War. — Once  more  the 
house  of  Austria  seemed  about  to  triumph  in  Germany. 
Again  Richelieu  must  interfere  if  he  would  prevent  it,  and 
this  time  with  his  own  forces.  The  French  period  lasts  from 
1635  tnl  tne  dose  of  the  war. 

The  first  efforts  of  France  were  directed  against  the  prov- 
inces which  had  been  retained  by  the  Spanish  Hapsburgs 
in  the  Low  Countries,  where,  after  driving  back  a  Spanish 
invasion  which  had  threatened  Paris  for  a  moment,  Arras 


§  342]  The  Peace  of  Westphalia  353 

was  captured  and  the  province  of  Artois  conquered.  In  the 
south,  Roussillon  was  taken  possession  of,  and  Portugal  was 
aided  to  recover  her  independence  from  Spain.  The 
Swedish  army  soon  passed  under  French  control,  and  their 
successes  in  Alsace  and  the  Rhine  valley  made  for  the  ad- 
vantage of  France.  Richelieu  did  not  live  to  see  the  com- 
plete fulfilment  of  his  plans,  but  he  saw  enough  to  be 
confident  of  their  final  realization.  His  policy  was  con- 
tinued by  Mazarin,  his  successor  in  the  French  ministry.  In 
the  last  years  of  the  war,  two  young  French  generals  began 
their  career  who  were  destined  to  the  highest  military 
renown,  Turenne  and  Conde\  Their  repeated  victories,  the 
occupation  of  Bavaria,  the  capture  of  Passau  and  of  Prague, 
and. the  threatening  of  Vienna,  finally  drove  the  emperor, 
Ferdinand  III.,  reluctantly  to  consent  to  conditions  of 
peace. 

342.  The  Peace  of  Westphalia.  —  The  series  of  treaties  by  The  im- 
which  the  Thirty  Years'  War  was  brought  to  an  end  is  known   portance  of 
as  the  peace  of  Westphalia.     Considered  as  one,  it  consti-   Qinddy^i 
tutes  the  most  important  event  in  diplomatic  history  since  Chap,  x.; 
the  treaty  of  Verdun  in  the  ninth  century,  and  the  wide-   Gardiner, 
reaching  dispositions  which  it  made  controlled,  with  some   sec.  2; 
slight  modifications,  the  political  and  geographical  arrange-   selected 
ments  of  Europe  till  the  age  of  Napoleon.  &mfo in 

From  the  point  of  view  of  general  history,  the  peace  of  Queiienbuch, 
Westphalia  marks,  first  of  all,  the  great  advance  of  France   J59- 
towards  the  headship  of   Europe,  and  the   corresponding  The  great 
decline  of  the  house  of  Austria.     This  was  made  evident  in   YrlncT  ° 
the  treaties  and  secured  for  the  future  in  two  ways.     In  the   Kitchin, 
first  place,  France  was  given  the  footing  on  the  Rhine  which  Fran"'  n1, 
for  a  hundred  years  its  statesmen  had  been  hoping  to  attain. 
The  larger   part  of  Alsace  was   put   under  the  control  of 
France,  though  it  was  not  actually  ceded  to  her,  and  two 
great  fortresses  on  the  right  bank  of  the  river,  Breisach  and 
Philippsburg,  became  French.     She  thus  had  an  easy  entry 
for   her    armies    directly   into    Germany   in   the    event   of 
another  war.      This  position  on  the  upper  Rhine  enabled 

2  A 


93-100. 


354 


The  Age  of  Religious  Wars     [§§  343>  344 


The;  decline 
of  Austria. 
Brvce, 

Holy  Roman 
Empire, 
340-35I- 


Map, 
Putzger, 
No.  22. 


Sweden  and 
the  German 
states. 


France  also  easily  to  extend  her  influence  over  the  small 
states  of  the  lower  valley,  and  a  few  years  later  she  organized 
the  League  of  the  Rhine  under  her  leadership,  which  made 
France  almost  as  much  a  German  power  as  Austria. 

343.  The  Empire  Destroyed.  —  In  the  second  place,  the 
treaties  made  the  Empire  in  law  what  it  had  been  in  reality 
for  more  than  two  hundred  years  —  a  mere  form,  though 
making  at  the  same  time  the  forms  somewhat  more  empty. 
Full  sovereignty,  with  the  right  to  make  treaties  and  alliances 
with  foreign  states,  limited  only  by  the  most  meaningless  con- 
ditions, was  given  to  each  of  the  more  than  three  hundred 
and  fifty  little  states  into  which  Germany  was  now  divided. 
The  position  of  emperor,  which  now  belonged  by  a  kind 
of  customary  right  to  the  Hapsburgs,  became  a  merely 
honorary  one,  a  kind  of  presidency  of  a  loose  confederation 
with  no  real  power  whatever.  As  a  result,  the  lingering 
ideas  of  a  German  nation,  which  had  existed  up  to  this  time, 
disappeared  completely.  Each  little  court  pursued  its  own 
utterly  selfish  and  corrupt  policy,  bitterly  jealous  of  all  the 
others  and  of  the  Empire,  and  even  such  a  man  as  Lessing 
could  rejoice  that  he  was  not  troubled  with  the  weakness 
of  patriotism.  Austria  was  reduced,  by  this  state  of  things, 
to  depend  upon  her  own  private  resources  in  future  strug- 
gles with  France,  and  Louis  XIV.  was  able  to  treat  the 
Empire  with  most  open  contempt  and  insult  with  perfect 
impunity. 

344.  The  Other  States  of  Europe  in  the  Peace. —The 
other  dispositions  of  the  treaties  are  of  comparatively  little 
importance.  Sweden,  Brandenburg,  and  Saxony  received 
large  additions  of  territory.  The  portion  of  the  Palatinate 
on  the  Rhine  was  restored  to  the  son  of  Frederick  with  an 
eighth  electorate  created  for  him,  but  Bavaria  retained  the 
part  of  the  Palatinate  which  joined  her  territory,  together 
with  the  old  seventh  electorate  which  had  been  given  her 
at  the  beginning  of  the  war.  The  edict  of  Restitution  was 
not  enforced  except  for  the  last  years  of  the  war.  The 
religious  arrangements  of  the  peace  of  Augsburg  were  con- 


§§345?  346]      New  Era  in  English  History 


355 


tinued  in  force,  and  the  Calvinistic  or  Reformed  Church, 
as  it  was  called,  was  admitted  to  its  privileges. 

Spain  refused  to  accept  this  peace  for  herself,  and  con- 
tinued the  war  for  ten  years  longer,  hoping,  on  account  of 
the  civil  conflicts  in  France,  to  be  able  to  extort  better 
terms.  In  this  she  was  disappointed,  and  in  the  peace 
of  the  Pyrenees,  in  1659,  she  was  obliged  to  make  consider- 
able cessions  to  France,  both  in  the  Low  Countries  and  in 
the  south. 

345.  The  Sufferings  of  Germany. — The  misery  which 
Germany  suffered  from  the  Thirty  Year's  War  can  hardly  be 
conceived.  At  the  end  of  two  hundred  years  the  losses  had 
scarcely  been  made  good.  Armies  whose  business  it  was 
to  make  all  they  could  from  the  country  had  been  marching 
through  the  land  for  almost  a  generation.  The  population 
was  reduced  one-half,  and  the  movable  property  two-thirds. 
Farmsteads  and  villages  even  disappeared,  much  of  the 
country  fell  back  into  wilderness,  and  wild  beasts  that  had 
not  been  seen  in  the  memory  of  man  became  frequent  once 
more.  Manners  and  morals  suffered  with  the  rest,  and  the 
peasantry  especially  became,  as  they  remained  until  the 
present  century,  scarcely  more  than  beasts  of  burden  with 
no  sense  of  self-respect. 

346.  A  New  Era  in  English  History.  —  During  the  last 
period  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  a  civil  war  was  going  on  in 
England,  of  a  somewhat  different  character.  In  1603,  the 
reign  of  Elizabeth,  the  last  of  the  Tudors,  came  to  an  end, 
and  that  of  James  I.,  the  first  of  the  Stuarts,  began.  Con- 
sidered in  itself  alone,  this  was  an  event  of  no  small  impor- 
tance, since  it  brought  together  in  close  alliance  the  two 
kingdoms  of  England  and  Scotland  which  had  been  enemies 
of  one  another  for  so  many  centuries,  and  prepared  the  way 
for  the  still  closer  union  of  the  present  time.  But  in  the 
history  of  England,  the  accession  of  the  son  of  Mary  Stuart 
to  the  throne  marks  a  still  greater  change.  The  whole 
situation,  domestic  and  foreign,  was  now,  indeed,  very  dif- 
ferent from  that  which  had  existed  before  the  execution 


Spain 

continues  the 
war  for  ten 
years. 


Thirty  years 
of  savage 
warfare 
destroy  the 
gains  of  two 
hundred. 
Gardiner, 
Chap.  XL, 
Sec.  III.; 
Gindely,  II. 
393-398. 


The  acces- 
sion of  the 
Stuarts. 
James  I., 
1603-1625. 


A  great 
change  in 
English 
affairs. 


356 


The  Age  of  Religions  Wars 


[§346 


of  the  king's  mother,  Mary  Queen  of  Scots.  Spain  was  no 
longer  to  be  feared,  and  there  was  no  heir  to  the  designs 
of  Philip  II.  Such  designs  themselves  were  no  longer 
possible,  for  there  was  not  now  any  claimant  of  the  throne, 
like  the  Catholic  Mary  Stuart,  who  could  serve  as  the  centre 
of  treasonable  conspiracies. 

The  effect  of  these  changes  upon  the  share  taken   by 
England  in  the  international  politics  of  the  continent,  which 


Holy rood  Palace 


English 
history 
returns  to  its 
old  channel. 


was  much  less  during  the  first  half  of  the  seventeenth  than 
during  the  sixteenth  century,  was  not  their  most  important 
result.  In  national  politics,  the  result  was  the  opening  of 
a  new  era.  The  practical,  though  not  legal,  absolutism  — 
the  straining  of  the  constitution  almost  to  the  point  of  break- 
ing —  which  the  people  had  tolerated  in  the  Tudors  because 
of  the  dangerous  crisis  through  which  the  nation  was  pass- 
ing, was  no  longer  necessary.  The  absence  of  all  foreign 
danger  and  of  any  source  of  discontent  at  home  which  need 


§  347]  The  Stuarts  and  the  Puritans  357 

be  feared,  enabled  the  nation  to  return  to  its  special  work 
of  constitution  making.  Its  first  task,  and  that  which  occu- 
pied it  nearly  all  the  seventeenth  century,  was  to  bring 
the  king  completely  under  the  constitution  as  it  existed 
before  the  Tudors,  though  in  the  process  many  details  of 
the  constitution  were  greatly  clarified  and  perfected. 

347.    The  Stuarts  and  the  Puritans. — There  were  two  The  Stuart 
circumstances  which  concurred  at    this  time   to   reinforce   character- 
what  seems  to  be  a  natural  Anglo-Saxon  tendency  to  render  Green, 
personal  and  arbitrary  government  impossible  by  means  of    English 

constitutional  limitations.     One  of  these  was  the  character  Pe0£  e> 

55  ff. 

of  the  king  and  of  his  successors.  The  French  contem- 
porary remark  that  James  I.  was  the  wisest  fool  in  Christen- 
dom has  never  been  improved  upon.  He  was  very  proud 
of  his  learning,  of  which  he  made  ostentatious  display,  but 
he  was  pedantic,  narrow,  and  foolish,  and  gained  more  ridi- 
cule than  respect.  In  action  he  was  short-sighted  and 
obstinate.  Filled  with  the  most  extreme  notions  of  the 
sanctity  and  divine  right  of  kings,  he  was  not  disposed  to 
tolerate  any  interference  with  his  prerogatives  nor  even  any 
independence  on  the  part  of  Parliament,  but  his  policy 
lacked  the  definite  and  steady  guidance  of  a  strong  nature. 
He  commanded  neither  the  affection  nor  the  respect  of  his 
people,  and  lacked  entirely  the  popularity  and  brilliant 
qualities  which  had  helped  to  carry  the  arbitrary  govern- 
ment of  Henry  VIII.  and  Elizabeth.  The  short-sighted  and 
narrow  obstinacy  of  James,  with  his  unwavering  belief  in  the 
divine  right  of  absolutism,  and  his  vacillating  will  passed  to 
his  descendants  and  are  characteristics  of  the  Stuart  kings. 

The  second  of  the  circumstances  favoring  popular  resist-   The  Puritan 
ance  to  the  king  was  the  strength  of  the  Puritan  party  in  Party- 
England.     This  had  increased  greatly  in  the  last  years  of  EnSish 
Elizabeth,  and  was  destined  to  a  still  greater  growth  under   People,  III. 
James   and   to  a   leading  part   in   the    reign  of  Charles  I.    x3-21- 
Thoroughly  imbued  with  the  Calvinistic  idea  of  the  duty  of 
resisting  even  the  constituted  authorities  in  defence  of  the 
right,  and  familiar  with  the  constitutional  position  which 


358 


The  Age  of  Religions  Wars     [§§  34-8,  349 


His  foreign 

policy. 

Gardiner, 

First  Two 

Stuarts 

(Epochs), 

Chap.  II. 


King  and 
Parliament. 


The  Petition 
of  Right. 
See  refer- 
ences on  this 
period  in 
chapter  on 
the  English 
constitution. 


Charles 
strives  for 
indepen- 
dence. 
Gardiner, 


Parliament  had  once  occupied,  this  party  with  its  allies  was 
well  prepared  to  meet  the  Jacobite  doctrine  of  the  sin  of 
resistance  to  the  king,  and  to  conduct  the  struggle  for  a 
recovery  of  parliamentary  control. 

348.  The  Reign  of  James  I.  — James'  popularity  was  not 
increased  by  his  foreign  policy.  He  allowed  his  son-in- 
law,  Frederick,  the  Elector  Palatine,  to  be  ruined  in  the  early 
years  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  against  the  wishes  of  the 
people.  At  the  same  time  he  strove  without  success  to 
form  an  alliance  with  Spain,  cemented  by  the  marriage  of 
his  son  Charles  with  a  Spanish  princess,  and  though  the 
nation  no  longer  feared  Spain  as  once,  she  was  still  regarded 
as  their  hereditary  enemy. 

Under  the  first  of  the  Stuart  kings,  the  conflict  between 
the  royal  power  and  the  Parliament  went  no  further  than 
the  vigorous  assertion  of  claims  and  counter-claims.  Such 
positive  gains  as  were  made  were  on  the  parliamentary  side, 
which  insisted  with  determination  on  a  long  list  of  rights 
supported  by  earlier  precedent  —  to  control  taxation, 
whether  internal  or  on  foreign  commerce,  to  demand  re- 
forms as  the  necessary  condition  of  grants  of  money,  to 
impeach  the  king's  ministers,  and  to  criticise  and  discuss 
the  government's  policy  regarding  both  domestic  and  for- 
eign interests. 

349.  Charles  I.  and  Parliament.  —  Charles  I.  was  of  more 
pleasing  manners  than  his  father,  but  he  was  even  less  dis- 
posed to  yield  anything  of  his  rights  to  what  he  considered 
factious  opposition.  In  1628,  his  financial  necessities  com- 
pelled him  to  assent  to  the  Petition  of  Right,  the  second  in 
the  series  of  the  great  constitutional  documents  of  our  race, 
in  which  the  right  of  Parliament  to  vote  all  taxes,  and  the 
right  of  the  people  to  be  secured  from  arbitrary  imprison- 
ment and  trial,  were  clearly  affirmed. 

Charles  soon  showed,  however,  that  he  had  not  meant  by 
this  agreement  to  surrender  any  of  his  personal  authority. 
He  determined  to  rule  without  a  Parliament,  and  for  eleven 
years  he  did  not  call   one.     Two  able  ministers,  the  earl 


§  35°] 


Civil   War  Begun 


359 


of  Strafford  and  Archbishop  Laud,  gave  him  their  assist- 
ance, and  in  the  Star  Chamber  and  the  Court  of  High 
Commission  he  had  the  means  of  arbitrary  trials  without  the 
intervention  of  any  jury.  To  assist  in  providing  a  revenue, 
an  obsolete  special  tax 
which  had  been  for- 
merly paid  by  the  mari- 
time counties  for  naval 
defence,  the  ship- 
money  tax,  was  re- 
vived and  extended  to 
all  England.  The  re- 
fusal of  Hampden  and 
others  to  pay  this  tax 
was  the  first  step  in 
open  opposition  to  the 
king. 

350.  Civil  War  Be- 
gun.—  It  was  in  Scot- 
land that  rebellion  be- 
gan. Efforts  of  Laud 
to  change  the  Pres- 
byterian worship  led, 
first  to  riot,  and  then  to  organized  resistance.  To  sup- 
port the  army  which  was  necessary  to  compel  obedience, 
Charles  was  obliged  to  summon  a  Parliament,  but  when 
they  showed  no  disposition  to  make  a  grant  before  a  re- 
dress of  grievances,  he  speedily  dissolved  them.  But  the 
Scottish  army  advanced  into  England,  and  the  king  was 
forced  to  yield. 

In  1640,  the  Parliament  known  as  the  Long  Parliament, 
and,  after  the  execution  of  the  king,  as  the  Rump,  came 
together.  Charles  sacrificed  Strafford  and  Laud  to  the  ven- 
geance of  the  commons,  hoping  that  they  would  demand  no 
further  concessions,  but  when  he  found  that  this  was  but  a 
beginning,  he  rashly  attempted  to  turn  the  tide  by  depriv- 
ing  the    opposition   of  its   leaders,  and  demanded  in  the 


Charles  I.  of  England 


Stuarts, 
Chap.  IV.; 
Taylor, 
Etigland 
under 
Charles  I. 
(Contem- 
poraries). 


Finance 

measures. 

Green, 

English 

People,  III. 

143-149. 


Scotland 

resists, 

1639. 


Charles 
yields  for  the 
moment, 
1641. 


360 


The  Age  of  Religions  Wars 


[§35' 


presence  of  the  House  the  arrest  and  delivery  to  him  of 
five  members,  including  Hampden.  The  storm  aroused  by 
this  act  rendered  reconciliation  no  longer  possible,  and 
Charles  abandoned  London,  which  was  devoted  to  the  par- 
liamentary side,  and  at  Nottingham,  on  the  2  2d  of  August, 
1642,  raised  the  standard  of  civil  war. 

351.   The  Great  Rebellion  and  the  Commonwealth.  —  In 
the  war  which  followed,  known  in  English  history  as   the 

Great  Rebellion, 
the  war  between  the 
Cavaliers  and  the 
Roundheads,  the  ex- 
treme Puritan  party, 
the  Independents, 
under  the  lead  of 
Cromwell,  soon 
came  to  the  front. 
Cromwell's  troop, 
the  Ironsides,  de- 
voutly religious, 
thoroughly  drilled, 
and  full  of  deter- 
mined courage,  was 
made  the  model  of 
the  army.  Defeated 
in  several  battles, 
especially  at  Naseby 
in  1645,  Charles 
took  refuge  in  Scotland,  but  was  delivered  to  Parliament  by 
the  Scots  in  1647.  After  the  failure  of  all  attempts  at  com- 
promise, and  the  expulsion  by  Cromwell  from  the  Long 
Parliament  of  the  members  who  were  opposed  to  extreme 
measures,  Charles  was  put  on  trial  before  a  special  High 
Court  of  justice,  condemned  to  death  as  a  tyrant  and 
traitor,  and  executed  on  the  9th  of  February,  1649. 

For  four  years  longer   the  diminished  Parliament   con- 
tinued to  rule  England  in  form.     Cromwell  was  occupied 


Cromwell 


Topics 


361 


with   his   army   in   putting  down  various   insurrections,  in 
conquering  Ireland,  where  there  were  many  friends  of  the 
Stuarts,  and  finally  in  meeting  the  Scots,  who  had  proclaimed 
Charles  II.  king  and  invaded  England  with  a  strong  army. 
In  the  two  great  battles  of  Dunbar  and  Worcester,  Cromwell 
completely  defeated   them,  and  Scotland  was   obliged   to 
acknowledge  the  government  of  the  Commonwealth.      In  Cromwell 
1653,  Cromwell  and  the  army  became  so  dissatisfied  with   pac|e 
the  conduct  of  affairs  by  the  "  Rump,"  that  he  dissolved  it   ^53. 
by  force,  and  soon   became  in  name,  what  he  had  really  Gardiner, 
been  for  some  time,  the  ruler  of  England,  under  the  title  of  c^™_  JjX 
Lord  Protector. 


Topics 

The  character  of  this  age  in  the  different  countries  of  Europe. 
The  first  in  the  series  of  wars.  The  conduct  of  Maurice  of  Saxony. 
The  new  policy  of  France.  The  arrangements  made  by  the  peace  of 
Augsburg.  The  close  of  the  reign  of  Charles  V.  Compare  the  power 
of  Philip  II.  with  that  of  Charles  V.  His  idea  of  his  highest  duty. 
The  policy  of  Mary  of  England,  and  the  result.  Why  must  Elizabeth 
be  a  Protestant?  Her  rival  for  the  crown.  The  political  constitution 
of  the  Netherlands.  How  did  they  pass  to  the  Hapsburgs?  Causes 
of  separation  into  two  parts.  Measures  of  Philip  II.  The  rebellion 
and  independence  of  the  United  Provinces.  The  early  life  of  Mary 
Stuart.  Why  did  she  take  refuge  in  England?  Why  was  she  exe- 
cuted? The  history  of  the  Armada.  The  origin  and  ideas  of  the 
Puritans.  The  differences  between  Puritans  and  Separatists.  Which 
were  the  Pilgrims?  Characteristics  of  the  Huguenots.  The  policy  of 
Catherine  de'  Medici.  How  did  the  Huguenot  wars  begin?  The 
political  position  gained  by  the  Huguenots.  Reasons  for  the  massacre 
of  St.  Bartholomew.  The  character  and  policy  of  Henry  IV.  His 
foreign  plans.  The  edict  of  Nantes.  The  causes  of  the  Thirty  Years' 
War.  The  history  of  Frederick  of  the  Palatinate.  The  peculiar  methods 
of  Wallenstein.  Reasons  for  the  interference  of  Sweden  and  France. 
Richelieu's  policy  in  France.  Abroad.  His  attitude  towards  Protes- 
tantism. What  change  in  history  does  this  stand  for?  The  character 
of  Gustavus  Adolphus.  His  military  skill.  Why  was  Wallenstein 
assassinated?  The  importance  of  the  peace  of  Westphalia.  What  did 
France  gain  from  the  war?  In  what  position  was  Austria  left?  How 
had  the  Empire  become  so .  weak  ?     In  what  condition  was  Germany 


362  The  Age  of  Religious  Wars 

left  by  the  war?  The  characteristics  of  the  Stuarts.  What  change 
now  occurs  in  English  history,  and  why?  The  attitude  of  the  Puritan 
party.  Why  was  James  I.  an  unpopular  king?  How  did  Charles  I. 
differ  from  him,  and  how  was  he  like  him?  By  what  measures  did 
Charles  try  to  restore  the  royal  power?  How  did  he  come  to  allow 
Strafford  to  be  executed?  Cromwell's  party.  The  end  of  the  Long 
Parliament. 

Topics  for  Assigned  Studies 

The  Armada.  Froude,  History  of  England,  XII.,  Chap.  XXXVI. 
Story,  British  Empire  (Nations),  I.  127-159.  Johnson,  Periods, 
373-377.  Kingsley,  Westward  Ho!  (Novel.)  Chaps.  XXIX. 
to  XXXI. 

The  rise  of  the  Puritan  party.  Hallam,  Constitutional  History  of  J './in- 
land, Chap.  IV.  Bacon,  Genesis  of  the  New  England  Churches. 
(Harper.)  73-90.  Fisher,  Reformation,  342-347.  Hinds, 
England  of  Elizabeth.  (Macmillan.)  Wakeman,  The  Church 
and  the  Puritans.  (Epochs  Ch.  Hist.)  Documents  in  Prothero, 
Select  Statutes.  (Clarendon.)  Bk.  VIII.  1 83  ff.  Gee  and  Hardy 
416  ff.     Religious  Pamphlets  in  Pamphlet  Library.     (Holt.) 

Policy  of  Richelieu  in  France.  Perkins,  Richelieu  and  Mazarin. 
(Putnam.)  I.,  Chap.  IV.  Kitchin,  France,  III.  6-10,  18-30, 
75-83.     Correard,  Textes,  p.  29. 

The  siege  of  La  Rochelle.  Perkins,  Richelieu  and  Mazarin,  I.  1 18— 
127.  Gardiner,  Thirty  Years'  War,  Chap.  VI.,  Section  IV. 
Correard,  Textes,  p.  27. 


Tudors,  Stuarts,  and  Hanoverians 


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CHAPTER   II 

FRANCE  TRIES   TO   DOMINATE   EUROPE 

352.    The  Hapsburgs  in  1660.  —  In  1660,  after  the  close  Spain  weak 
of  the  war  with  Spain,  France  appeared   to  be  without  a  *nd    . 
rival  in  Europe.     Spain  still  had  widely  extended  posses-   On  the  whole 
sions,  —  Naples,  Milan,  Franche-Comt£,  and  the  Low  Coun-   age  see 
tries, — and  she  still  had  the  now  diminished  treasures  of  ^7^°/^ 
America  at  her   command,  but   her  scattered    possessions   Ludwigs 
were  not  easy  to  defend,  and  the  old  energy  of  the  race,  its  XIV- 
splendid  military  capacity,  was  gone.     The  country  had  been 
turned  from  the  path  of  the  sure  development  of  its  own 
resources,  partly  by  the  bigotry  of  its  rulers,  and  partly  by 
the  more  brilliant  attractions  of  the  New  World,  and  it  now 
plainly  showed  the  result  in  rapidly  declining  power.     The 
royal  family  seemed  to  reflect  the  condition  of  the  nation, 
for  it  had  passed  into  a  condition  of  physical  and  mental 
exhaustion,  which  brought  it  to  an  end  with  the  close  of  the 
century.     There  seemed  nothing  to  prevent  the  possessions 
of  Spain  in  the  Rhine  valley  from  falling  an  easy  prey  to  the 
designs  of  France. 

The  Austrian  Hapsburgs  showed  no  signs  of  the  exhaus-   Austria 
tion  of  their  Spanish  cousins.     Deprived  of  all  chance  of  turn'ngto 

?  the  East. 

making  a  real  empire  of  Germany,  they  were  finding  a  com- 
pensation in  pushing  their  dominion  down  the  Danube 
valley,  where  the  loosening  hold  of  the  Turk,  just  beginning 
his  long  decrepitude,  gave  them  the  opportunity  to  recover 
Hungary.  But  under  these  circumstances  they  would  plainly 
have  less  reason  than  a  generation  before  for  opposing  the 
plans  of  France  in  northwestern  Germany. 

365 


366        France  tries  to  Dominate  Europe     [§§  353-  354 


England  not 
likely  to 
interfere. 


Holland 
most  nearly 
interested. 


Her 
resources. 


353.  England  and  Holland.  —  England  was  still  in  its  age 
of  revolution :  1660  was  the  year  of  the  restoration  of  the 
Stuarts  and  the  monarchy  in  the  person  of  king  Charles  II., 
and,  though  Cromwell  had  shown  himself  at  times  disposed 
towards  a  vigorous  foreign  policy,  and  though  commercial 
interests  were  rapidly  increasing,  no  one  could  then  suppose 
that  England  would  take  a  leading  part  in  international 
affairs  within  a  generation. 

Still  less  could  any  one  suppose,  in  1660,  that  the  resist- 
ance which  was  destined  to  defeat  the  plans  of  the  Grand 
Monarque,  and  to  check  the  desired  advance  of  the  most 
powerful  state  of  Europe  would  come  from  the  little  Dutch 
Republic,  whose  independence  had  just  been  recognized  by 
Spain  and  the  Empire.  But  Holland  was  a  country  of 
resources  out  of  all  proportion  to  its  size,  and  of  the  most 
determined  resolution  to  protect  its  independence,  which  it 
believed  threatened  by  the  designs  of  Louis.  Ideal  reasons 
also  were  not  wanting,  —  a  hatred  of  despotism  and  of  reli- 
gious intolerance,  which  were  now  embodied  in  Louis  XIV., 
as  they  had  once  been  in  Philip  II.  A  more  republican 
cast  had  lately  been  given  to  the  constitution  in  conse- 
quence of  the  failure  of  an  attempt  of  William  II. 's  to  make 
it  more  monarchical.  The  political  and  military  headship 
of  the  State  had  been  separated,  and  the  former  was  now  in 
the  hands  of  John  de  Witt,  Grand  Pensioner  of  Holland. 
During  the  war  of  independence,  the  eastern  colonies  of 
Portugal,  then  a  part  of  Spain,  had  been  seized  by  the 
Dutch,  and  with  the  East  Indian  trade  under  its  control, 
Holland  had  become  the  richest  country  of  Europe  and  the 
mistress  of  the  seas.  England  was  beginning  to  dispute 
that  position  with  her,  and  the  struggle  between  them  had 
been  opened  by  a  short  war  under  Cromwell,  but  as  yet 
Holland  had  not  suffered  greatly  from  the  rivalry.  It  was 
quite  as  much  the  armies  of  France,  as  the  fleets  of  England, 
that  ruined  the  Dutch  Republic. 

354.  The  Situation  in  France.  —  In  the  government  of 
France,  the  plans  of  Richelieu  had  been  as  successful  as  in 


§355] 


Character  of  Louis  XIV. 


367 


regard  to  the  European  position  of  the  country.  After  the 
death  of  Richelieu,  Cardinal  Mazarin  had  continued  his 
policy.  In  the  civil  war  of  the  Fronde,  during  the  minority 
of  Louis  XIV.,  an  attempt  had  been  made  to  check  the  prog- 
ress of  the  royal  power,  partly  in  the  interest  of  the  Parle- 
ment  of  Paris,  the  supreme  court,  which  tried  to  secure 
some  constitutional  right  to  limit  the  king's  prerogative,  and 
partly  in  the  interest  of  the  great  nobles  and  princes  related 
to  the  royal  house,  whose  more  selfish  object  was  to  recover 
political  power  for  themselves. 

Both  these  attempts  had  been  failures,  and  when  Louis 
XIV.  took  the  direction  of  the  government  into  his  own 
hands,  on  the  death  of  Mazarin  in  166 1,  there  was  no  check 
on  the  will  of  the  king  and  no  constitutional  means  by 
which  public  opinion  could  express  itself.  The  Estates 
General  had  not  met  since  16 14,  and  they  were  not  to  meet 
again  until  the  eve  of  the  Revolution  in  1789.  The  Parle- 
ment  of  Paris  was  obliged  to  yield  in  every  case,  however 
much  it  might  wish  to  oppose  the  king,  and  all  the  ministers 
were  entirely  dependent  upon  him. 
yL  355.  Character  of  Louis  XIV.  —  Louis  XIV.  was  not  a 
genius  in  any  respect.  In  the  management  of  government 
affairs,  he  was  a  painstaking  and  hard  worker,  like  an  indus- 
trious business  man.  In  foreign  affairs,  he  intensely  desired 
the  aggrandizement  of  France  and  his  own  glory.  He  was 
ambitious  to  be  ranked  in  history  as  one  of  the  world's 
great  sovereigns  and  conquerors,  but  he  was  narrow  and 
short-sighted  in  determining  the  special  objects  of  his 
policy,  and  dependent  for  such  success  as  was  reached  on 
the  genius  of  others.  He  was  a  most  firm  believer  in  the 
divine  right  of  kings.  He  sincerely  thought  that  he  was 
responsible  to  God  alone  and  not  at  all  to  the  nation  for  the 
way  in  which  he  ruled.  Intolerant  of  opposition  or  of 
opinions  that  did  not  agree  with  his,  he  lived  upon  the 
grossest  flattery,  and  could  be  led  only  by  adroitly  persuad- 
ing him  that  the  object  desired  was  his  own.  But  in  spite 
of  all  his  faults  he  was,  as  all  his  age  believed  him,  a  great 


The  minority 

of  Louis 

XIV. 

Kitchin, 

France,  III. 

138  ff.; 

Adams, 

French 

Nation, 

202-207. 


Louis  XIV. 
absolute 
ruler  of 
France. 


An  ambi- 
tious 
plodder. 
A  contem- 
porary 
portrait, 
Correard, 
Textes,  112; 
Hassall, 
Louis  XIV. 
(Heroes), 
82-102 ; 
Kitchin, 
France, 
III.  142-152. 

Theory  of 
royal  power. 
Bossuet  on, 
in  Correard, 
Textes,  108, 
and  Schil- 
ling, Quellen* 
buck,  198. 


368 


France  tries  to  Dominate  Europe         [§  356 


The  finances 
in  confusion. 


king,  and  he  honestly  and  sincerely  sought  the  interests  of 
the  nation,  as  he  understood  them. 

356.    Colbert    and    the    Finances.  —  In    Colbert,    Louis 

had,  during  the  first 
part  of  his  reign,  a 
great  finance  minister 
whose  skill  provided 
the  resources  for  his 
undertakings.  At  the 
death  of  Mazarin,  the 
finances  of  France  were 
in  great  confusion. 
Corruption  in  their  ad- 
ministration was  the 
rule,  and  Mazarin  him- 
self had  not  scrupled 
to  comply  with  it.  The 
people  paid  heavy 
taxes,  but  the  collectors 
enriched  themselves  at 
the  expense  of  the 
Louis  XI v.  State,  and  only  a  small 

proportion  reached  the 
treasury.  It  was  estimated  that  of  eighty-four  million 
paid  in  1661  only  twenty-three  were  received  by  the  govern- 
ment. 

Mazarin's  superintendent  of  finances,  Fouquet,  who  had 
acquired  an  enormous  fortune  by  these  methods,  fell  a  first 
victim  to  the  new  reforms.  No  one  had  supposed  at  first 
that  Louis  was  in  earnest  when  he  had  announced,  onthj 
death  of  Mazarin,  that  he  would  be  his  own  prime  minister, 
and  Fouquet  had  hoped  to  succeed  the  cardinal  ii 
government  of  the  State  through  the  king.  It  was  the  dra- 
matic arrest  and  punishment  of  Fouquet  that  first  convinced 
the  court  that  Louis  meant  what  he  said.  Colbert,  who  had 
revealed  to  the  king  the  financial  methods  of  the  time,  was 
soon  put  in  control  of  the  revenues,  and  was  by  degrees 


§  357]  Colbert's  Economic  Measures  369 

given  other  responsible  offices,  until  he  had  nearly  the  whole 
administration  of  the  kingdom  in  his  hands. 

The  confidence  of  the  king  which  he  had  at  first,  he  fully  Colbert's 
deserved.  Probably  no  minister  in  history  ever  served  his  reforms- 
country  with  more  singleness  of  purpose.  He  attacked  the 
old  abuses  vigorously.  The  collectors  were  forced  to  restore 
to  the  treasury  their  ill-gotten  gains.  New  methods  brought 
in  greater  returns  to  the  State,  while  the  burdens  of  the  people 
were  reduced,  and  a  surplus  was  accumulated  which  was, 
perhaps,  a  temptation  to  the  king. 

357.  Colbert's  Economic  Measures. — The  efforts  of  Col-  The  protec- 
bert  for  the  good  of  France  were  not  confined  to  a  reform  of  don  of 
the  taxation.  He  wished,  like  Henry  IV.,  to  increase  the 
national  wealth  and  bring  in  an  age  of  great  prosperity.  In 
his  measures  for  this  purpose  he_was  guided  by  two  ideas. 
One  was  that  manufactures  must  be  the  chief  source  of 
national  wealth  and  not  agriculture.  The  other  was  that  to 
secure  the  best  results  industry  must  be  under  strict  govern- 
ment supervision.  This  was  a  theory  of  paternalism  quite 
natural  to  the  time,  and  to  the  kind  of  government  prevail- 
ing in  France.  Colbert  could  hardly  know  that  the  most 
essential  condition  of  economic  prosperity  is  freedom,  free- 
dom to  make  changes,  to  introduce  new  methods,  and  to 
conform  to  varying  conditions.  He  placed  a  heavy  pro- 
tective tariff  on  foreign  goods,  introduced  many  new  lines 
of  manufacture,  brought  in  colonies  of  skilled  artisans  of 
many  kinds  from  abroad,  and  established  minute  regulations 
intended  to  secure  always  the  best  quality  of  product.  The 
result  was  at  first  largely  what  he  hoped  for,  but  the  class 
he  most  desired  to  serve  did  not  agree  in  the  end  that  his 
measures  had  been  of  benefit  to  them. 

Foreign  commerce,  also,  and  colonies  he  endeavored  to   Commerce 
develop  in  the  same  way.     The  East  and  theJWest  India  and  colonies- 
Companies  were  organized,   and  others  of  the  same  kind, 
and   given   monopolies   of  their  goods.      The   valley   and 
mouth  of  the  Mississippi  were  occupied,  and  North  America 
seemed  likely  to  become  French,  but  in  the  settlement  of 


370        France  tries  to  Dominate  Europe     [§§  358>  359 


Colbert's  last 
days. 


The  mar- 
riage of 
Louis  XIV. 


The  "  right 
of  devolu- 
tion." 
Airy, 

Louis  XIV. 
(Epochs), 
Chap.  XII.; 
Hassall, 
Louis  XIV., 
Chap.  V.; 
Perkins, 
Regency, 


colonies  a  strict  paternalism  prevailed,  as  everywhere  else, 
and  prepared  the  way  for  the  failure  of  the  French  in  com- 
petition with  the  freer  English. 

It  was  not  likely  that  a  minister  like  Colbert,  who  did  not 
hesitate  to  preach  economy  and  to  object  to  lavish  expen- 
ditures, would  be  able  to  control  the  finances  of  France  per- 
manently, under  a  king  like  Louis  XIV.  As  the  king  became 
more  devoted  to  the  worship  of  himself,  and  involved  in 
projects  for  his  own  glory,  the  influence  of  Colbert  declined. 
His  last  years  were  filled  with  disappointment  at  the  failure 
of  his  plans  to  make  income  equal  expenditure,  and  he  died 
unpopular  with  court  and  people  alike,  an  example  of  the 
ingratitude  of  kings. 

358.  Preparing  to  annex  Spain. — The  direction  which 
his  foreign  conquests  should  take  was  marked  out  for  Louis 
XIV.  by  the  treaty  of  the  Pyrenees,  which  had  closed  the 
war  with  Spain  in  1659,  as  well  as  by  the  weakness  of  that 
country.  This  peace  had  been  cemented  by  a  marriage 
between  Louis  and  Maria  Theresa,  the  eldest  daughter  of 
Philip  IV.  of  Spain,  but  the  treaty  had  provided  that  she 
should  renounce  all  her  rights  of  succession  to  the  throne  of 
Spain.  The  skilful  diplomacy  of  Muzarin,  however,  had 
secured  the  insertion  of  a  condition  which  rendered  this 
renunciation  of  no  effect.  It  was  to  become  valid  on  the 
payment  by  Spain  of  a  dower  of  five  hundred  thousand  crowns 
of  gold,  a  sum  which  Mazarin  knew  that  it  would  be  impos- 
sible for  Spain  to  raise.  The  first  successes  and  the  final 
failure  of  Louis  XIV.  were  alike  due  to  this  provision. 

359.  Louis  XIV.'s  First  War. —  In  1665  Philip  died  and 
was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Charles  II.  He  was  the  son  of 
Philip  by  a  second  marriage,  while  the  wife  of  Louis  was  a 
daughter  of  the  first.  Some  peculiar  provisions  were  dis- 
covered in  the  feudal  law  of  inheritance  prevailing  in  certain 
provinces  of  the  Spanish  Low  Countries,  by  which  the  chil- 
dren of  a  first  marriage  should  succeed  to  the  exclusion  of 
those  of  a  second.  That  these  were  not  provisions  of  the  pub- 
lic law,  but  related  only  to  private  inheritances,  made  no  par- 


§§  36o>  36lJ        The  War  against  Holland 


371 


ticular  difference.  Louis  at  once  advanced  his  claim  to 
these  provinces,  and  a  fine  French  army  under  Turenne 
occupied,  almost  without  resistance,  some  of  the  strongest 
fortresses  of  the  Low  Countries. 

These  rapid  successes  of  Louis,  with  the  evident  fact 
that  Spain  could  not  defend  herself,  excited  the  immediate 
alarm  of  Holland.  She  was  able  to  form  the  Triple  Alliance 
with  England  and  Sweden,  still  regarded  as  one  of  tEe 
strongest  states  of  Europe,  and  offered  a  kind  of  armed 
mediation.  Louis'  first  answer  was  the  rapid  occupation 
of  the  province  of  Franche-Comte,  a  part  of  the  territory  of 
the  former  dukes  of  Burgundy.  But  he  did  not  think  it  wise 
actually  to  enter  upon  a  war  with  the  Triple  Alliance,  and 
consented  to  the  treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  in  1668.  Franche- 
^Comte  was  restored  to  Spain,  but  a  line  of  strong  fortresses 
was  retained  on  the  borders  of  the  Low  Countries,  which 
promised  France  an  easy  entry  into  the  heart  of  that  country 
when  the  next  war  should  begin. 

360.  Louis  prepares  to  punish  Holland.  —  Louis  XIV.  was 
now  resolved  to  take  vengeance  upon  Holland  at  the  earliest 
possible  moment.  The  little  Calvinistic  republic  of  traders 
and  fishermen  which  had  dared  to  set  limits  to  the  ambition 
of  the  greatest  monarch  of  Christendom  must  be  taught  to 
know  its  place.  His  first  step  was,  by  skilful  diplomacy,  to 
deprive  Holland  of  her  allies.  It  was  not  difficult  to  gain 
Charles  II.  of  England.  To  fill  his  empty  pocket  and  to 
further  his  own  personal  designs,  he  was  ready  to  sell  his 
alliance  to  France,  and,  though  so  much  of  the  bargain  as 
became  known  was  very  unpopular,  the  weakening  of  Holland 
was  not  contrary  to  the  commercial  interests  of  England, 
which  had  already  had  two  great  naval  wars  with  the  Dutch 
within  twenty  years.  Sweden  was  also  gained  and  remained 
on  the  side  of  France  till  the  close  of  the  war,  and  Holland 
was  left  without  an  ally. 

361.  The  War  against  Holland.  —  In  the  spring  of  1672 
the  war  began.  Louis  himself  at  the  head  of  a  great  army, 
for  those  days,  of  more  than  100,000  men,  carefully  passing 


The  Triple 

Alliance 

checks 

Louis. 

Airy, 

Louis  XIV., 

Chap.  XIV. 


Peace  of  Aix- 
la-Chapelle. 


Holland 
isolated. 
Airy, 

Louis  XIV., 
Chap.  XVI. 


England 
against  the 
Dutch. 


Louis'  first 
successes. 
Kitchin, 
France,  III. 


372  France  tries  to  Dominate  Europe  [§  361 


185-189; 

Hassall, 
/.on is  XIV., 
Chap.  VI. 


The  war 

becomes 

European. 

Kitchin, 

France,  III. 

191-205 ; 

Perkins, 

Regency, 

69-89. 


around  the  Spanish  Low  Countries  and  through  the  territo- 
ries of  his  German  allies  on  the  Rhine,  invaded  the  country 
from  the  south.  His  success  was  rapid  at  first.  The  south- 
ern part  of  the  land  was  occupied,  Utrecht  was  captured, 
and  Amsterdam  was  threatened.  But  Holland  was  no  less 
determined  in  her  resistance  to  the  new  representative  of 
intolerance  and  despotism  than  she  had  been  in  the  case  of 
Philip  II.  The  government  was  revolutionized.  John  de 
Witt  was  murdered  by  a  mob,  and  the  young  William  III. 
of  Orange  was  put  at  the  head  of  the  State.  Then  the  dykes 
were  cut  and  the  advance  of  the  French  was  checked. 

William  III.  immediately  sought  for  allies,  and  the  fear 
which  the  designs  of  Louis  XIV.  began  to  excite  in  fcjurope 
came   to   his   aid.     Spain,  the  emperor,  and  Brandenburg 

began  war,  and  public 
opinion  in  England 
forced  Charles  II.  to 
withdraw  from  the  side 
of  Louis.  The  war 
became  a  European 
war.  France  was  forced 
Cor  a  time  to  fight  on 
the  defensive,  but  the 
genius  of  Turenne,  until 
he  was  killed  in  1675, 
and  of  Cond£,  until  he 
went  into  retirement 
soon  after,  were  more 
than  a  match  for  their 
enemies.  Franche- 
Comt£  was  again  occu- 
pied, and  further  for- 
tresses in  the  Spanish 
Netherlands  were  cap- 
tured. On  the  sea  the  Dutch  suffered  heavily,  their  great 
admiral  De  Ruyter  was  killed,  and  the  French  admiral  I  Hi 
Quesne  gained  several  victories. 


Louis  DE  Bourbon,  the  Great  Conde 


$362]  The  Period  of  the  "Reunions"  373 

Atja&t  all  parties  were  ready  for  peace,  and  the  treaty  of.  The  peace 
.Nimeguen   was   made   in    TfyjK.      Holland   had   not   been  ofNime- 
humiliated   as    Louis   had   hoped,   and   received    favorable  ^iry 
terms,  but  she  was  exhausted  by  the  strain  and  losses  of  Louis  xiv., 
the  war.     The  gains  of  Fran^  were  as__ujujl_at-th^.-eipjeris.e  ChaP-  xxii. 
°.f  Spgjn.     Franche-Comt£  was  now  retained  and  a  new  and 
better  frontier  drawn  in  the  Spanish  Netherlands. 

362.    The  Period  of  the  "  Reunions." — The  period  of   Annexations 
ten  years  which  followed  to  the  beginning  of  the  next  war  in  time  of 
is  filled  with  interesting  events,  and  forms  a  turning-point  in   Hassan, 
the  reign  of  Louis  XIV.  and  in  the  history  of  France.     In  Louis  XIV., 
the  first  place,  Louis  had  come  off  so  well  against  a  strong  Chap,  vn.; 
European  coalition  that  he  still  believed  he  could  do  any-   Regency, 
thing  he  pleased,  and  he  acted  accordingly.     On  pretext  of  209-218; 
the  phrase  "  and  their   dependencies "  which^had   accom-  prlnceiw 
panied  the  cession's  fl'olli  Germany  in  the  recent  treaties,  he   213-217. 

gf^^iirj^j-aT^^  pf  T? piin unr^g*  wnrF   in    the 

Rhine  valley  toseek  out  every  indication  of  former  depend- 
ence on^the  lands  which  he  had  received,  and  to  declare 
that_these  new  territories  were  also  French.  More  than  a 
hundred  bits  of  territory,  large  and  small,  were  thus  annexed. 
In  jji&v  the  great  city  of  Strasburg,  a  free  city  of  the 
Empire,  was_§eized.  At  the  same  time,  Casale,  a  fortress  in 
northern  Italy,  which  would  open  the  way  to  the  Spanish 
territories  of  Milan,  was  seized  in  the  same  way.  Genoa, 
which  had  long  been  an  ally  of  Spain,  was  bombarded, 
and  forced  to  the  most  humiliating  conditions  of  peace. 
_£ayuy  was  treated  almost  like  a  French  province  ;  the  prin- 
cipality of  Orange  was  seized,  and  on  a  quarrel  with  the 
pope,  Avignon  was  taken  possession  of.  Spain  and  the 
Empire  were  powerless  to  resent  these  insults,  and  Austria 
was  threatened  with  and  soon  engaged  in  a  desperate  war 
\vith_Jiie  Turks,  who  besieged  Vienna  in  1683,  and  were 
only  driven  back  by  the  army  of  John  Sobieski,  king  of 
Poland.  "But  if  resistance  was  for  a  time  not  possible, 
Europe  was  growing  constantly  more  convinced  that  a  gen- 
eral  combination  was  necessary  to  check    the    French  ad- 


374         France  tries  to  Dominate  Europe    [§§  363>  364 


The  League 
of  Augsburg. 


The  edict  of 
Nantes 
revoked. 
1685. 


The  loss  to 
France. 


The  exhaus- 
tion of  war 
and  extrava- 
gance. 


vance.  In  1686,  Sweden.  Spair^  and  Anstrfa,  with  other 
of  the  larger  German  states,  formed  the  League  of  Augsburg 
to  prevent  the  further  violation  of  treaties. 

363.  The  Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes.  —  In  the 
year  which  preceded  this  event,  Louis  XIV.,  by  an  act  of 
his  own,  had  injured  France  as  deeply  as  could  a  league  of 
its  enemies.  From  the  year  in  which  Mazarin  died,  he  had 
sanctioned  measures  of  increasing  severity  against  the  Protes- 
tants. In  1685,  encouraged  perhaps,  rather  than  incited,  by 
tTieadvice  of  Madame  de  Maintenon,  which  fell  in  with  his 
own  intolerant  disposition,  hoping  by  so  pious  an  act  to 
appease  a  conscience  not  altogether  quiet,  wishing  to  add 
to  the  other  glories  of  his  reign  that  of  destroying  heresy 
and  making  France  of  one  faith,  he  revoked  the,  ed'r^  nf 
Nantes,  which  had  been  granted  by  Henry  IV.,  in  1598. 

Since  the  overthrow  of  their  political  power  by  Richelieu, 
the  Huguenots  had  been  faithful  citizens  and  of  the  greatest 
service  to  France.  They  were  mainly  of  the  middle  class, 
artisans,  merchants,  and  landholders.  Some  of  Colbert's 
manufacturing  colonies  had  been  made  up  of  Protestants.  1 
They  formed  the  strength  of  France  upon  the  sea.  How 
much  the  jgosperity  of  the  country  dependecf^bn  them 
could  not  be  known  until  it  was  deprived  of  their  aid,  for  in 
spite  of  the  edicts  against  emigration  hundreds  of  thousands 
escaped  and  carried  to  other  lands  their  industrial  skill  and 
a  bitter  hatred  of  their  native  land.  Protestantism  was  not 
destroyed,  for  in  Louis'  last  war  and  in  time  of  desperate 
need  the  rebel  Huguenots  in  the  south  of  France  kept  a 
French  army  from  fighting  the  foreign  invader,  but  the 
industry  of  France  was  undermined  and  the  navy  fatally 
weakened. 

364.  The  Resources  of  France  declining.  —  Already  the 
resources  of  the  State  were  beginning  to  feel  the  constant 
strain  of  war  and  of  extravagance  also,  for  peace  for  the 
next  hundred  years  was  as  costly  to  France  as  war.  The 
vast  building  and  other  works  at  Versailles,  where  the  king 
had  now  taken  up  his  permanent  residence,  the  daily  ex- 


§365] 


Charles  II.  in  England 


375 


^  penses  of  the  court,  and  the  pensions  and  salaries  of  the 
nobles,  required   enormous   sums.     Despite   tfie^  effort*;;  of 
Colbert,  the  taxes_were__grqwing  heavier,  the  national  debt 
was   increasing,  and  the  old  confusion  was  coming    back 
into  the   management 
of    the    finances.      It 
was  a  crisis  in  the  his- 
tory of  France.      Had 
the    king    been    wise 
enoughto  see  that  the 
country    was     on     the 
verge    of    exhaustion, 
and     to     realize     the 
strength   which  the 
Huguenots  lent  to  the 
nation,     the     whole 
history    of    France 
might  have  been  dif- 
ferent 

365.  Charles  II.  in 
England.  —  Events 
were  in  the  meantime 
taking  place  in  an- 
other country  which 
were  quite  as  important  as  these  in  their  bearing  on  the 
future  of  France,  and  more  important  still  in  their  bearing  on 
the  future  of  the  world.  England  passed  through  the  last  of 
the  Stuart  revolutions  and  entered  on  a  new  era  of  her  history. 
The  meaning  ot  this  in  the  growth  of  her  constitution  and  01 
her  colonial  empire,  we  shall  study  in  another  place.  Here 
we  are  most  concerned  with  its  bearing  on  the  plans  of 
Louis  XIV.  and  on  the  supremacy  of  France  in  Europe. 

Charles__Hv  though  he  was  no  more  disposed  to  be  a  The  reign  of 

constitutional  king  than  the  rest  of  the  Stuarts,  had  learjO£lLC^arlefoIL' 

0 1660-1685. 

some  wisdom    from   the  disasters  of  his  father.      But  his 

reign  was  increasingly  unpopular.     He  seemed  to  have  no 

personal  interests    except  in  the    corrupt    pleasures  of  the 


Colbert 


The  second 
Stuart 
period. 
See  refer- 
ences in 
Chap.  VIII. 


376         France  tries  to  Dominate  Europe    [§§  366>  367 


court.  His  extravagance  kept  him  always  in  need  of  money, 
and  he  sold  Dunkirk  to  the  French^  which  Cromwell  had 
secured  to  take  the  place  of  Calais,  and  he  accepted  the 
pensions  of  Louis^  He  was  willing  to  make  war  on  Protes- 
tant  Holland  ;  plotted  to  restore  Catholicism  in  England,  with" 
a  French  army  to  aid  him  if  necessary;  and  stretched  the 
laws  granting  indulgence  to  Catholics  and  dissenters  as  far 
as  he  dared.  But  he  knew  how  to  yield  when  the  popular 
opposition  became  too  Strong,  and  be  managed  to  keep 
possession  of  the  crown  tor  twenty-five  years  and  to  pass  it 
on  to  his  brother,  James  iTTwhose "known  adhesion  to  the 
Catholic  Church  had  made  a  large  party  in  the  State  anxious 
to  exclude  him  from  the  throne. 
james  II.,  366.    The  Revolution  of  1688.  —  James  II.  was  the  most 

1685-1688.  naxtQMLJind  obstinate  of  his  family,  and  his  determination 
to  be  the  means  of  the  restoration  of  Catholicism  carried 
him  perhaps  to  further  extremes  than  he  would  otherwise 
have  attempted.  He  assumed  the  right  to  suspendr  modify  ^ 
or  extend  laws  made  by  the  Parliament,  to  interfere  with 
the  operation  of  the  courts,  and  to  increase  the  standing 
army  and  commission  Catholics  as  officers.  England  bore 
his  rule  with  patience  for  three  years,  looking  forward  to  the 
next  reign,  for  the  heir  to  the  throne  was  James'  daughter 
Mary,  married  to  her  cousin,  William  of  Orange. 
James  .      In  1 688  a  son  was  born  to  the  king,  and  the  situation  was 

deposed.  changed  at  once.  The  prospect  of  the  reign  of  a  James  III. 
could  not  be  endured,  and  an  invitation  was  soon  sent  to  Wil^. 
Ham  to  come  to  England  and  take  possession  of  the  govern- 
ment. On  the  landing  of  William  the  power  of  James  at  once 
collapsed,  and  he  was  obliged  to  flee  to  France,  where  he  was 
William  ill.  received  and  provided  for  by  Louis.  William  and  Mary  be- 
came joint  sovereigns  with  the  full  consent  of  the  nation,  and 
the  constitutional  principles  established  by  the  Revolution  oL 
1 688,  as  this  event  is  called  in  English  history,  were  put  into 
definite  form  and  made  law  in  the  Bill  of  Rights,  passed  in  1689. 
367.  The  War  of  the  League  of  Augsburg.  —  William  III. 
was  the  soul  of  the  opposition  to  Louis  XIV.,  and  he  was 


§  3681  The  Spanish  Succession  377 

now  able  to  add  England  and  Holland_at_once  to.  the  League_. England 
of  Augsburg.     War  had  already  been  begun  by  Austria,  and  J°ins  the 
in  1689  it  became  a  general  European  war.     The  day  of  perkins, 
rapid   conquests  was   over,  but  France  maintained   herself  Regency, 
against  so  many  enemies  with  fair  success.     The  events  of  Kit^jn 
the  war  are  of  little  importance.     The  attempt  of  James  II.  France,  in. 
to  recover  his  throne  through  an  invasion  of  Ireland,  where  asi-az1- 
he  had  many  partisans,  with  the  help  of  the  French,  was  a 
failure,  and  by  his  victory  in  the  battle  of  the  Boyne  Wil- 
liam III.  secured   his   position  in  England.     The   French 
barbarously  laid  waste  the  Palatinate,  to  which  Louis  had 
laid  claim  at  the  beginning  of  the  war,  to  prevent  its  occu- 
pation  by  the   enemy.      On   sea   the    French   fleets   were 
almost  destroyed  by  those  of  England  and  Holland.     On 
land  the  general   balance   of  the  war  was  in  favor  of  the   The  peace  of 
French,  but  in   1697   Louis  made  the   peace    of  Ryswick,   Ryswlck- 
granting  concessions  to  all  his  enemies. 

368.    The   Question  of  the  Spanish   Succession. — Louis  The  end  of 
was  moved  to  make  such  a  peace,  so  contrary  to  his  usual  ^e  sPan,sh 

.,  ■  .       .  „  .      .      Hapsburgs. 

practice,  by  the  rapid  approach  of  another  event,  in  which  Morris, 

he  had  a  far  deeper  interest   than  he  could   have  in  any  Age  of  Anne 

possible  conquests  of  this  war.     Charles  II .  of , .  Spain  -was  chapY- 

plainly^approaching  the  end  of  his  life,  and  he  had  no  heir.  Kitchin, ' 

Louis  was   resolved    to    insist    upon    the    claim    for   which  France> lu- 

Mazarin  had  prepared  the  way  in  the  treaty  of  the  Pyrenees,  *72  2  4' 
and  to  which   Louis  had   looked   forward  as  the  crowning 
event  of  his  reign,  and  to  do  thjs  with  any  hope  of  success 
peace  was  necessary. 

Louis   had  little  hope  at  first   that  he  could  secure  the  Louis' plans 

whole   Spanish   inheritance   for   a    French   prince.     There  noteasyto 

realize 

were  other  heirs  with  claims  as  good  or  better.  The  arch- 
duke Charles  of  Austria  and  Prince  Joseph  of  Bavaria  were 
descended  from  Spanish  princesses  who  had  not  renounced 
their  rights  of  succession,  as  had  the  mother  and  wife  of 
Louis,  though  the  Austrian  princess  through  whom  Prince 
Joseph  derived  his  immediate  claim  had  made  such  a  re- 
nunciation on  her  marriage.      Besides  this,  it  was   hardly 


378        France  tries  to  Dominate  Europe    [§§  369*  37° 


The  Spanish 
Empire  to  be 
parcelled  out 
without 
leave. 
Hassall, 
Louis  XIV., 
Chap.  XII.; 
Green, 
English 
People,  IV. 
66-70. 


Spain  objects 
to  the 
partition 
treaties. 
Kitchin,  III. 
284  ff. 


Charles  II.'s 
will. 


The  will  of 
Charles  II. 
accepted. 


likely  that  Europe  would  allow  these  two  great  monarchies 
to  become  so  closely  allied  and  the  power  of  France  to  be 
so  greatly  increased  when  her  comparatively  small  gains  in 
the  Rhine  valley  had  been  so  bitterly  opposed. 

369.  The  Partition  Treaties. —  Louis'  first  plan,  therefore, 
was  to  arrange  in  advance  some  partition  of  the  Spanish 
territories  among  the  different  claimants,  which  Europe 
would  accept  without  a  war.  Two  such  treaties  of  partition 
were  drawn  up  and  consented  to  by  William  III.  of  England, 
whose  opposition  Louis  especially  feared.  William  wished, 
however,  to  avoid  war,  and  some  such  arrangement  was  ab- 
solutely necessary,  since  there  were  no  other  heirs  to  be 

considered.      The   second   treaty   of  partition   was   made 

necessary  by  the  death  of  Prince  Joseph,  whom  the  first  had 
assigned  to  the  throne  of  Spain.  The  kingdom  of  the  Two 
Sicilies  was  the  most  important  territory  given  France  by 
these  arrangements,  and  this  Louis  hoped  to  be  able  to  ex- 
change for  Savoy  on  the  southeast  border  of  France. 

Very  naturally  the  parcelling  out  of  the  territories  of  what 
had  once  been  the  most  powerful  and  was  still  the  proud- 
est of  nations,  without  so  much  as  asking  consent,  as  if  Spain 
herself  were  about  to  die,  or  had  no  will,  was  deeply  resented 
by  the  Spanish.  They  proposed  to  dispose  of  their  own 
throne  and  in  such  a  way  as  to  preserve  the  integrity  of  their 
empire.  Their  natural  disposition  was  in  favor  of  the  house 
of  Hapsburg,  but  careful  consideration  convinced  them  that 
France  was  far  more  likely  to  be  able  to  prevent  the  disinte- 
gration of  their  dominions  than  Austria.  Accordingly,  a  short 
time  before  his  death,  Charles  II.  drew  up  a  will  in  which 
he  left  the  whole  of  the  Spanish  lands  to  the  duke  of  Anjqii, 
the  second  son  of  the  Dauphin,  and  grandson  of  Louis  XIV. 

370.  France  annexes  Spain. — The  news  of  this  testa- 
ment, on  the  death  of  Charles  II.,  near  the  end  of  the  year 
1 700,  occasioned  a  moment's  hesitation  in  France.  To  take 
what  was  given  by  the  partition  treaty  with  less  risk  of  war. 
or  if  war  must  come  with  England  and  Holland  as  allies,  or 
to  try  for  the  whole  and  face  all  Europe  in  a  certain  war  with 


§37o] 


France  annexes  Spain 


379 


were 


to 


give 

in  return 


their    consent 


only  the  possible  help  of  Spain,  —  this  was  the  question.  The 
question  was  soon  decided.  The  prize  was  too  great  to  be 
refused,  and  Louis  introduced  his  grandson  to  the  court  with 
the  words,  "  Gentlemen,  this  is  the  king  of  Spain." 

It  now  seems 
likely  that  even  this 
triumph  of  Louis' 
would  have  been  ac- 
cepted by  Europe, 
so  tired  were  some 
of  the  leading  states 
of  the  constant  wars 
of  the  last  twenty- 
five  years,  if  he  had 
not  apparently  lost 
his  head  over  his 
great  success.  Eng- 
land and  Holland 
disposed 


Gobelin  Tapestry,  Time  of  Louis  XIV. 


Spain 

treated  as  if 
a  part  of 
France. 
Lecky, 
History  of 
England 
(Appleton), 
I.  27  fif. 


for  com- 
mercial concessions, 
but  these  were  re- 
fused. Spain  was  to 
give  France  a  mo- 
nopoly of  some  of 
the  most  profitable 

lines  of  trade  with  America,  especially  that  in  negroes,  at  the 
expense  of  England  and  Holland.  James  II.  dying  at  this 
time,  France  immediately  recognized  James  III.  as  the  right- 
ful king  of  England.  Spain  was  openly  treated  as  if  it  were 
already  a  subject  state,  as  if  the  Pyrenees  were  indeed  no  more. 
Philip  V.  gave  formal  notice  that  he  retained  all  rights  of  suc- 
cession to  the  French  crown,  and  the  Low  Countries  were 
almost  annexed.  Such  thing.s,could  not  be  passed  oxex  and... 
William  III.  had  no  difficulty  in  forming  the  Grand  Alliance 
of  all  the  chief  states  of  Europe,  whose  object  was  to  compel  a 


The  Grand 

Alliance. 

Schilling, 

Quellenbuch, 

209. 


380        France  tries  to  Dominate  Europe 


371,372 


Great 

generals  and 
battles. 


The  dawn  of 

world 

politics. 


France 
makes  a 
brave 

defence,  but 
is  forced  to 
yield. 
H  assail, 
funis  XIV.. 
Chap.  XIII. 


partition  of  the  Spanish  Empire.     William  died  just  as  the 
war  was  opening,  but  he  was  succeeded   by  Anne,  the  sister 
of  his  wife  and  daughter  of  James  II.,  who  continued  his 
jDolicy,  under  the  influence  of  the  Whig  party. 

371.  The  War  of  theJjJpanisb-Succession.  —  From  a  mili- 
tary point  of  view,  the  War  of  the  Spanish  Succession  is  one 
of  the  greatest  of  European  wars.  The  allies  had  two  very 
famous  generals,  the  English  duke  of  Marlborough  and 
Prince  Eugene  of  Savoy,  in  the  service  of  Austria.  France 
had  no  generals  equal  to  these,  and  sometimes  her  armies 
were  very  badly  led,  but  they  knew  how  to  fight,  and  such 
battles  as  those  of  Blenheim,  Ramillies,  Oudenarde,  and 
Malplaquet  are  among  the  greatest  of  history. 

The  War  of  the  Spanish  Succession  is  also  more  than  a 
European  war,  and  as  the  last  stage  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War 
marks  the  introduction  into  international  politics  of  new 
motives  and  guiding  principles,  so  this  war  indicates  the 
coming  on  of  a  new  era  in  history,  for  it  was,  in  some  degree 
at  least,  a  world  war,  and  was  fought  on  many  seas  and  in 
all  colonies.  In  American  colonial  history  it  is  known  as 
Queen  Anne's  War. 

372.  The  War  goes  against  Louis.  —  The  course_pLthe_ 
war  was  decidedly  against  the  French  in  spite  of  the  bravery 
of  her  armies.  She  lost  great  battles.  Her  territory  was  in- 
vaded. The  Huguenots  in  the  south  — the  Camisarda  — 
revolted.  The  Spanish  people  remained  true  to  Philip  V., 
but  at  one  time  he  was  driven  from  his  capital  which  was 
entered  by  the  archduke  Charles.  At  one  time  during  the 
war,  Louis  was  brought  to  offer  most  extensive  concessions 
in  return  for  peace,  but  the  allies  demanded  more  than  he 
could  yield  until  absolutely  conquered.  He  turned_  almost 
in  despair  to  the  French  people,  in  an  address  which  was 
sent  throughout  the  country,  and  the  nation,  despite  its  in- 
tense suffering  and  exhaustion,  responded  with  an  enthu- 
siasm which  made  its  conquest  impossible.  Finally  the 
archduke  Charles  became  emperor,  and  as  Europe  had  DC 
wish  to  restore  the  great  empire  of  Charles  V.,  and  as  Louif 


§§  373,  374] 


The  Rise  of  Eiigland 


381 


was  still  ready  to  grant  concessions,  the  war  ended  with  the 
peace  6T Utf ecrif ' in"f  7 1 3. 

England  had  already  signed  preliminaries  of  peace.  This 
was  due  to  the  fact  that  Queen  Anne  had  broken  with  her 
former  favorite,  the  duchess  of  Marlborough,  the  Whigs  had 
lost  control  of  the  State,  and  the  Tories  had  come  into  power. 
They  favored  peace  and  had  now  the  support  of  the  queen. 
Marlborough  was  accused  of  peculation  and  passed  the  last 
years  of  the  reign  in  disgrace. 

373.  The  Peace  of  Utrecht.  —  Like  the  peace  of  Westpha- 
lia, that  of  Utrecht  concerned  almost  every  European  state. 
The  Spanish  people  retained  the  king  they  had  chosen,  but 
failed  of  the  purpose  for  which  they  had  chosen  him.  Spain 
was  separated  from  all  her  European  possessions.  Austria 
received  the  lion's  share  of  these  :  the  Spanish  Netherlands, 
Milan,  Naples,  and  the  island  of  Sardinia.  The  duke  of 
Savoy  received  the  island  of  Sicily  and  the  title  of  king. 
A  few  years  afterwards  he  was  obliged  to  exchange  this  with 
Austria  for  Sardinia,  and  from  this  came  the  title  of  king  of 
Sardinia,  retained  by  the  house  of  Savoy  until  the  formation 
of  the  present  kingdom  of  Italy.  Spain,  stripped  of  these 
possessions  but  retaining  her  American  colonies,  was  given  to 
Philip  V.,  the  grandson  of  Louis  XIV.  The.  Bourbons  thus 
became  possessed  of  the  Spanish  throne,  the  only  one  they 
retain  at  the  present  day. 

374.  The  Rise  of  England.  —  The  gains  of  England  from 
this  war  were  far  greater  than  those  of  any  other  state, 
though  they  seem  less  striking  than  those  of  Austria.  But 
Austria's  gains  were  more  apparent  than  real,  for  her  new 
possessions,  as  in  the  days  of  Charles  V.,  great  as  they 
seemed,  were  widely  scattered,  difficult  to  defend,  and  not 
a  real  source  of  strength.  England's,  however,  were  exactly 
in  the  line  of  her  future  greatness.  From  Spain  she  received 
the  command  of  the  Mediterranean,  the  fortress  of  Gibraltar, 
and  the  island  of  Minorca  containing  the  strongly  fortified 
naval  station  of  Port  Mahon,  and  she  was  given  also  control 
of  the  supply  of  negroes  to  the  Spanish  colonies,  a  very  profi- 


Change  of 
parties  in 
England. 


The  Spanish 
possessions 
divided. 
Morris, 
Anne, 

Chap.  XV. ; 
Hassall, 
Louis  XIV., 

397-414; 
Kitchin, 
France,  III. 
335-34°- 


England's 
colonial 
empire 
enlarged. 


382 


France  tries  to  Dominate  Europe         [§  375 


table  trade  at  that  time,     fi^e,  haH  gnrr^gfuiiy  begun  in  this 


England 
beginning  to 
take  a  first 
place  in  the 
world. 


war  also  the  conquest  of  North  America  from  the   French. 
France  ceded  to  her  all  her  claims  on  New  Foundland  and 
the  Hudson  Bay  territories,  and  Acadia  or  Nova  Scotia. 
England's  navy  was  now  rapidly  growing  stronger,  while 


those  of  France  and  Holland  were  growing  weaker.  Her 
commerce  was  widely  extending.  During  the  reign  of  Anne 
she  had  made  a  treaty  with  Portugal  which  made  that  coun- 
try, once  the  greatest  commercial  and  colonial  state  of 
Europe,  almost  her  commercial  vassal.     As  the  treaty  of 


A  North  View  of  Gibraltar 


The  exhaus- 
tion of 
France. 
Contempo- 
rary 
accounts. 


Westphalia  marks  the  decline  of  the  house  of  Hapsburg  and 
the  rise  of  France  to  the  first  place  in  Europe,  so  that  of 
Utrecht  marks  the  decline  of  France  and  the  rise  of  England 
to  a  first  place,  not  now  in  Europe  merely  but  in  the  world. 
375.  France  Unable  to  prevent  the  Rise  of  England.  — 
But  this  change  was  not  a  sudden  one.  A  long  and  desper- 
ate struggle  was  still  necessary  to  complete  it.  Louis  XIV. 
had  gained  from  the  War  of  the  Spanish  SuccessioiTwhat  he 
had  set  out  to  gain.  —  the  throne  of  Spain  for  his  grandson  ; 


but  it  was  at  a  fearful  cost!  an?  it  proved  of  no  jyalue  in  the 


§§376, 377]      End  of  the  Stuart  Dynasty  383 

end.     The  last  half  of  the  reign  of  Louis  XIV.  had  been  filled  Correard, 
with  more  disasters  for  France  than  the  king  knew  of.     The    Textes> 
resources  of  the  country  were  exhausted.    Its  industry  under- 


mined.  Its  commerce  almost  destroyed.  Agriculture  was 
"weighed  down  by  a  heavy  burden  of  taxation,  and  had  suf- 
fered from  bad  seasons  as  well  as  from  the  drain  of  men  into  the 
army\  The  peasantry  were  in  a  most  miserable  condition 
and  sometimes  even  starving  to  death.  The  finances  were 
in  disorder.  The  court  was  still  prodigally  wasteful  and  cor- 
rupt, and  all  power  of  reformation  seemed  lost. 

Bigotry  and  mistaken  policy  had  turned  France  into  the  Recovery  in 
way  which  Spain  had  entered  a  century  before.  She  was  ^^^^ 
not  destined  to  follow  it  to  the  same  end,  but  it  was  not  the 
government  which  prevented  this  result.  It  was  the  French 
nation  which  saved  itself  with  that  immense  recuperative 
power  which  is  one  of  its  marked  characteristics.  French 
industry  and  frugality  accumulated  new  resources  in  spite  of 
taxes  and  government  squandering,  and  in  another  century 
could  endure  vast  expenditure  of  men  and  money  in  a  new 
struggle  against  all  Europe,  far  greater  than  Louis  XIV. 's. 
But  for  the  present  France  was  exhausted,  and  in  the  struggle 
with  England  which  was  to  settle  in  the  next  fifty  years  the 
colonial  empire  of  the  world,  this  is  the  most  essential  fact. 

376.  The  Beginning  of  Louis  XV.' s  Reign.  —  Louis  XIV.   The  regency, 
was  succeeded  by  his  great  grandson,  Louis  XV.,  then  five 

years  old.     The  regent  was  Philip  of  Orleans,  nephew  of 
Louis  XIV.,  a  most  corrupt  man.     To  keep  himself  in  power 
he  formed  an  alliance  with  England  against  Philip  V.  of 
Spain,  who,  notwithstanding  his  renunciation  of  all  rights  of 
succession  in  France,  was  plotting  to  make  himself  regent.   The  "  Quad- 
This  alliance,  joined  afterwards  by  Austria  and  Holland,  and   ™Ple 
so  becoming  the  "  Quadruple  Alliance,/ '  led  to  a  war  with    Perkins,' 
Spain  which  had  no  important  results,  except  to  increase   Regency, 
the  financial  difficulties  of  France  and  to  show  how  little   K^in     " 
Louis  XIV.'s  War  of  the  Spanish  Succession  had  led  to  a  France,' ill. 
union  of  Spain  and  France.  3Sl  ff- 

377.  The  End  of  the  Stuart  Dynasty.  —  Just  before  the 


384 


France  tries  to  Dominate  Europe         [§  377 


Accession  of 

George  I. 

See  table, 

p.  361. 

Morris, 

Anne,  Chap. 

XVIII.; 

Lecky, 

England,  I. 

177-183. 

Thackeray, 

Henry 

Esmond 

(novel) ; 

Pamphlets 

by  Steele, 

Swift,  and 

Bolingbroke, 

in  Political 

Pamphlets, 

Pamphlet 

Library. 

The  union 

with 

Scotland. 

Morris, 

Anne, 

Chap.  XVI.; 

Green, 

English 

People,  IV. 

90  ff. 


end  of  Louis  XIV.'s  reign,  Queen  Anne  of  England  had  died. 
This  event  had  been  looked  forward  to  by  the  extreme  sup- 
porters of  the  Stuart  family  in  the  hope  that  something 
might  then  lead  to  the  accession  of  James  III.,  the  "  Old 
Pretender."  But  if  any  plots  had  been  made  to  secure  him 
the  throne  they  completely  failed,  and  George  I.  of  Hano- 


ver was  quietly  acknowledged  king,  according  to  the  Act  of 
Settlement  which  had  been  passed  before  the  death  of  Wil- 


liam  III.  By  this  act,  failing  heirs  of  William  or  of  Anne, 
Parliament  had  settled  the  succession  on  the  nearest  Protes- 
tant heirs  of  the  throne,  the  descendants  of  Elizabeth,  daugh- 
ter of  James  I.,  who  had  married  the  unfortunate  Frederick 
of  the  Palatinate.  Thus  began  the  house  of  Hanover,  or  of 
Guelf,  which  still  reigns  in  England. 

Another  event  in  the  reign  of  Anne  of  equal  importance^ 
for  the  future  of  Great  Britain,  was  the  union  of  England 
and  Scotland  into  one  kingdom.  By  the  accession  of  James 
of  Scotland  to  the  English  throne,  there  had  been  formed 
what  would  now  be  called  a  "  personal  union,"  by  which  the 
two  kingdoms  had  one  sovereign  and  followed  in  general  a 
common  policy,  but  each  retained  its  own  Parliament ^arul 
local  government.  In  1707  by  the  Act  of  Union,  Scotland 
obtained  representation  in  the  Engljshl-Parliament  and 
ceased  to  have  its  own.  The  result  proved  a  real  union  of 
the  two  peoples  into  one,  of  great  importance  in  the  age  of 
expansion  which  was  just  beginning. 


Topics 

What  reasons  can  you  give  for  the  decline  of  Spain?  Why  did  it 
seem  that  France  would  have  free  hand  in  Europe  about  1660  ?  What 
interest  had  Holland  in  the  case  ?  What  was  now  the  character  of  the 
French  constitution  ?  The  character  of  Louis  XIV.  The  changes 
made  by  Colbert.  The  importance  of  the  marriage  of  Louis  XIV. 
Louis'  first  war.  His  feeling  towards  Holland.  Louis'  second  war. 
How  does  the  period  of  the  "  reunions "  show  Louis'  power  in  Eu- 
rope ?  The  revocation  of  the  edict  of  Nantes  and  its  consequences. 
Did  the  American  colonies  gain  anything  by  this  ?  The  effect  of  Louis' 
wars  on  France.     The  relation  of  England  under  Charles  II.  to  France. 


Topics  385 

The  reasons  for  the  Revolution  of  1688.  Its  effect  on  France.  The 
third  war  of  Louis.  The  question  of  the  Spanish  succession.  What 
prevented  its  settlement  as  Louis  would  have  liked  ?  Spain's  feeling  on 
the  subject.  What  brought  on  the  War  of  the  Spanish  Succession  ? 
Its  character.  Its  effect  on  France.  The  treatment  of  Spain  in  the 
peace  of  Utrecht.  The  gain  of  England  from  the  war.  The  effect  of 
Louis'  reign  on  France.  The  policy  of  the  regent.  The  accession  of 
the  house  of  Hanover  in  England.     The  union  with  Scotland. 

Topics  for  Assigned  Studies 

The  reforms  of  Colbert.  Perkins,  France  under  the  Regency  (Hough- 
ton), Chap.  IV.  Hassall,  Louis  XIV.  (Heroes),  123-130.  Cor- 
reard,  Textes,  140-207. 

The  revocation  of  the  edict  of  Nantes.  Perkins,  Regency,  169-204. 
Hassall,  Louis  XIV.,  241-252.  Kitchin,  France,  III.  224-234. 
Text  and  contemporary  comment.  Correard,  Textes,  230-240. 
German  translation,  Schilling,  Quellenbuch,  191. 

2C 


CHAPTER  III 


THE   RISE  OF   RUSSIA  AND    PRUSSIA 


Changes  in 
north- 
eastern 
Europe. 


Sweden  a 
great  power. 


378.  The  Position  of  Sweden.  —  While  the  Warjol.lhe- 
Spanish  Succession  was  introducing  the  change  which  we 
have  noticed  in  the  relative  positions  of  France  and  Eng- 
land, changes  were  taking  place  in  the  northeast  of  Europe 
which,  so  far  as  the  European  politics  of  the  eighteenth  and 
nineteenth  centuries  are  concerned,  were  of  even  greater  in- 
fluence, and  in  the  world  politics  of  the  nineteenth  century 
of  almost  equal  consequence.  Sweden,  which  at  the  close 
of  the  Thirty  Years'  War  had  been  one  of  the  great  powers  of 
Europe,  rapidly  declined  into  the  second  rank  ;  Russia^ 
which  until  this  time  had  never  been  thought  of,  became  a 
strong  European  state  and  began  its  enormous  expansion; 
and  Prussia  rapidly  rose  in  power  and  became  the  rival  of 
Austria. 

^The  Thirty  Years'  War  left  Sweden  with  a  military  reputa- 
tion and  a  geographical  position  which  made  her  one  of  the 
first  states  of  Europe.  This  had  been  gained  by  the  wise 
policy  and  the  genius  of  her  kings,  by  religious  enthusiasm 
which  had  inspired  her  armies,  and  by  unusually  favorable 
conditions  among  her  neighbors.  The  place  which  she 
had  taken  she  could  hardly  hope  from  her  own  resources  to 
maintain.  The  successes  of  the  elector  of  Brandenburg  in 
the  second  of  Louis  XIV.'s  wars  made  this  evident,  though 
he  gained  nothing  from  them  at  the  time.     Sweden,  how- 


ever,  kept  her  territories  and  her  position  until  the  sud- 
den rise  of  a  new  power  overthrew  the  balance  in  the 
northeast. 

386 


§379] 


Early  History  of  Russia 


387 


379.  The  Early  History  of  Russia.  —  Russia  was  occupied  From  the 

by  theSk^Jidinavians,  at  the  time  of  the  great  Northmen  Northmen 

«•* : —     .        7         .     ,  ,  ™.         ,  to  the 

invasions  in  the  ninth  century,  as  we  have  seen.      Ihe  dy-  Romanoffs, 

nasty  of  Ruric  which  was  established  at  that  time  remained  Rambaud, 


Lhrtia'^<y      X  p. J  Tx^Z^  '    * DRG0  ^'i  •••'^;lis  \ 

/  ^_y     /       &••    .Jonk"pi"{r      <Wisby/  ^OThlano  A    \"       V 


Mru.* 


20  1, In.,,!  u.l,       II'..-:'        *5    //-.».     (;m«,fif/l  Jy, 


Borma,iCo.,N.T. 


in  power  for  more  than  seven  hundred  years,  though  there  RusTia 

was  for  much  of  that  time  no  united  government.       The  (London); 

Northmen,  here  as  everywhere  else,  adopted  the  language  Morfili, 

and  civilization  —  or  lack  of  civilization  —  of  the   country  (Nations). 


388 


Rise  of  Russia  and  Prussia     [§§  38o>  38] 


Not  really  a 

European 

state. 


Obstacles  to 
overcome. 
Schuyler, 
Peter  the 
Great, 
a  vols. 
(Scribner), 
1689-1725. 


and  became  Slavs.  They  were  in  closer  connection  with 
the  Greek  Empire  than  with  any  other  civilized  state,  and 
in  the  tenth  century  received  Christianity  from  there,  and 
were  organized  as  a  part  of  the  Greek  Church  under  the 
Patriarch  of  Constantinople,  a  relation  which  continued  until 
the  conquest  of  the  Empire  in  the  east  by  the  Turks.  At 
the  time  of  the  great  Mongolinvasion  in  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury, Russia  came  under  their  rule  which  lasted  two  cen- 
turies and  a  half.  In  the  second  half  of  the  fifteenth  century, 
the  Prince  of  Moscow,  Ivan  the  Great,  a  descendant  of 
Ruric,  threw  off  the  Mongol  yoke,  got  possession  of  Nov- 
gorod, the  great  commercial  city  of  the  north,  and  founded 
modern  Russia.  At  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century  the 
house  of  Ruric  became  extinct,  and  after  a  few  years  of  civil 
strife  Michael  Romanoff  was  made  czar,  the  founder  of  the, 
house  oTRomano^ 

""380.  Russia  in  the  Seventeenth  Century.  —  Still  through 
all  the  seventeenth  century  Russia  was  not  a  European^ 
power.  She  was  shut  out  from  all  contact  with  the  West. 
len  had  possession  of  all  the  shores  of  the  Baltic,  and 
the  Turks  of  all  the  north  shore  of  the  Black  Sea.  In  civil- 
ization, political  influence,  or  interest  for  other  states,  Russia 
might  as  well  not  have  been  a  Christian  state ;  she  was  up 
to  this  time  no  more  a  part  of  Christendom  than  was  China. 
One  of  the  most  striking  characteristics  of  the  nineteenth 
century  has  been  the  extension  of  European  international  law 
and  close  political  relationship,  to  that  common  system  which 
we  call  Christendom,  over  the  whole  world.  The  first  step  in_ 
this  expansion  of  Christendom  was  the  sudden  entering  of  the^ 
European  system  by  Russia  in  the  reign  of  Peter  the  Great, 
381.  The  Changes  made  by  Peter  the  Great.  —  From  the 
beginning  of  his  reign  in  1689,  when  at  the  age  of  seven- 
teen he  began  to  rule  alone,  Peter  was  resolvecj[  tn  intra- . 
duce  western  civilization  into  Russia,  and  to  make  her  one 
of  the  great  powers  of  Europe.  To  do  this  he  had  two 
great  obstacles  to  overcome.  One  was  the  opposition  of 
the  "Old   Russian"   party,   bitterly  opposed  to  all  change, 


§3»i] 


Changes  made  by  Peter 


389 


against  which  he  had  to  contend  almost  to  the  end  of  his 
reign.  The  other  was  the  isolated  position  of  Russia,  cut 
off  from  access  to  the  sea,  which  could  be  remedied  only  by 
successful  wars  with  Sweden  and  Turkey. 
Peter's  work  in  Russia  was  a  revolution. 


He  had  from 

youth  a  band  of  friends  from  the  countries  of  the  West  who 
encouraged  his  efforts,  and  he  increased  their  number.     He 


Peter  the  Great 

called  into  Russia  artisans,  merchants,  officers,  and  artists. 
He  organized  a  new  army  to  take  the  place  of  the  old  royal 
body-guard,  the  Strelitz,  who  had  assumed  too  much  power. 
He  compelled  the  nobles  to  submit  to  his  absolute  authority, 
forced  them  to  hold  their  lands  of  him,  made  nobility 
depend  upon  service,  and  created  many  new  nobles  and 
deposed  many  old  ones.  He  subjected  to  cruel  punishment 
rnsTsister  and  even  his  only  son  when  they  joined  the  opposi- 
tion to  his  reforms.     He  undertook  journeys  to  Holland  and 


Peter's 
reforms. 
Rambaud, 
Russia,  II. 
Chap.  II. 


39Q 


Rise  of  Russia  and  Prussia 


[§382 


The  first 
gain  from  the 
Turks. 


Charles  XII. 
of  Sweden, 
1697-17 1 8. 
Morris, 
Age  of  Anne, 
Chap.  VIII.; 
Bain, 

Charles  XII. 
(Heroes). 

Charles's 
first 

successes. 
Ram  baud, 
Russia,  II., 
Chap.  I. 


to  England  to  learn  ship-building  and  to  study  the  met 
of  the  western  states.  He  began  the  construction  of  a  fleet 
while  his  only  harbor  was  Archangel  on  the  White  Sea, 
frozen  half  the  year.  The  founding  of  St.  Petersburg  as  a 
new  capital,  in  conquered  territory,  open  to  the  Baltic,  and 
so  in  connection  with  the  West,  symbolizes  the  result  of  his 
reign.  Russia  had  been  made  a  new  state,  facing  Europe 
instead  of  Asia. 

382.  Russia  against  Sweden. — In  opening  the  way  to 
the  sea,  Peter's  first  success  was  gained  from  the  Turks. 
Taking  advantage  of  Austria's  attack  on  Turkey  in  the 
Danube  valley,  he  pushed  through  to  the  Black  Sea,  and  in 
the  peace  of  Carlowitz,  in  1699,  forced  the  Turks  jQ_cede_ 
to  him  the  strong  town  of  Azof  at  the  mouth  of  the  Don. 
Immediately  after  this  began  the  great  war  with  Sweden 
yfrir.h  led  to  the  ^11  of  that  state, 

In  1697  Charles  XII.  came  to  the  throne  of  Sweden  at 
the  age  of  seventeen.  This,  thought  all  the  neighbors  of 
Sweden  who  wished  to  partition  her  territories,  was  an  oppor- 
tunity not  to  be  neglected.  Denmark,  Russia,  and  Poland, 
whose  king  was  the  elector  of  Saxony,  formed  an  alliance 
against  the  young  king.  But  they  did  not  know  with  whom 
they  had  to  deal. 

Charles  XII.  proved  to  be  a  great  military  genius,  but  one 
lacking  the  political  insight  of  Peter  the  Great.  He  at  once 
attacked  the  Danes,  and  in  three  months,  before  any  of 
their  allies  could  come  to  their  aid,  he  forced  them  to  make 
peace.  Then  he  turned  immediately  against  Peter,  ancl  at 
Narva  dispersed  a  Russian  army  much  larger  than  his  own. 
Here  he  made  his  first  mistake.  Without  following  up  his 
advantage  and  forcing  Peter  to  make  peace  as  he  had  made 
the  Danes,  he  turned  back  and  marched  against  Poland, 
whose  king  he  regarded  as  a  personal  enemy.  Here  he 
equally  successful.  Augustus  II.  was  dethroned,  and  a  Polish 
noble,  Stanislaus  Leczinski,  was  elected  in  his  place.  Then 
he  advanced  against  Saxony  and  finally  forced  Augustus  to 
make  peace  and  renounce  the  Polish  throne,  (1708). 


§§  383>  384]    First  Promotion  of  the  Hohenzollern     391 

383.  The  Fall  of  Charles  XII.  —  But  in  these  operations  Mazeppa 
hejiadjisedup  several  years  more  indeed  than  were  neces-   and the 
sary,  for  he  had  lingered  long  in  Poland,  pleased  perhaps  at   puitava, 

"heing  courted  by  Louis  XIV.  on  one  side,  and  by  the  allies   1709- 
on  the  other,  who  were  now  in  the  midst  of  the  War  of  the 
Spanish  Succession,  and  in  these  years  Peter  had  not  been 
idle.     He  had  beaten  the  Swedes  in  battle,  taken  possession 

"of  several  Baltic  provinces,  and  in  one  of  them  had  founded 
St.  Petersburg.  When  at  last  Charles  returned  to  the  Rus- 
sian war,  he  made  his  second  great  mistake.  Instead  of 
going  back  to  the  North  he  let  himself  be  persuaded  by  a 

revolted  Cossack  chieftain,  Mazeppa,  to  attack  Moscow. 
But  the  Cossacks  gave  him  no  real  assistance,  and  in  the 

,  great  battle  of  Puitava,  in  the  summer  of  1 709,  he  was  com- 
pletely defeated  by  Peter,  and  escaped  with  only  a  few  fol- 
lowers into  Turkey. 

"The  war  which  he  persuaded  the  Sultan  to  make  against  Charles  in 
Russia  brought  him  no  permanent  advantage,  though  Peter  Turkey« 
was  obliged  to  give  Azof  back  to  the  Turks*.     Charles  wasted 
several  more  years  in  Turkey,  trying  to  induce  the  Sultan  to 
renew  the  war,  and  was  at  last  practically  imprisoned  there. . 
When  he  escaped  in  1 7 1 7  the  situation  had  so  changed  in 
the  North  that  no  recovery  by  Sweden  was  possible.    The 
old  enemies  were  all  in  the  field.     Augustus  was  again  king 
of  Poland.     The  Danes  were  threatening  the  capital  of  his 
kingdom.     New   enemies    had   joined  the   rest,  Branden- 
burg, now  the  kingdom  of  Prussia,  England,  and  Holland. 
Charles  kept  up  the  war,  however,  until  he  was  killed  at  Charles 
the  siege  of  Frederickshall  in  1718.     Sweden  then  made   killed  and 
peace  at  the  expense  of  her  southern  and  eastern  Baltic  humbled, 
provinces.     Bremen  and    Verden  went  to  Hanover,   Pom-    1718. 
erania  to  Prussia,  and  the  rest  to  Russia.     Sweden's  short 
history  as  a  power  of  the  first  rank  was  over.     Russia  and 
Prussia  had  each  taken  a  long  step  forward. 

384.  The  First  Promotion  of  the  Hohenzollern. — Atjjxe  Modern 
death  of  Peter  the  Great  in  1725,  Europe  knew  that  a  J^Tof 
power  had  risen  in  the  East  that  must  be  taken  into  account   Frederick 


392 


Rise  of  Russia  and  Prussia 


[§385 


the  Great. 
Tuttle, 
History  of 
Prussia, 
4  vols. 
(Houghton). 


The  Hohen- 
zollern  first 
obtain 
Nuremberg. 
Tuttle, 
Prussia,  I., 
Chap.  111. 


Then  Bran- 
denburg, 

I4I5- 
Map  of 
growth  of 
Prussia, 
Putzger, 
No.  30. 

The  Rhine 
provinces 
and  the 
duchy  of 
Prussia. 
Tuttle, 
Prussia,  I., 
Chap.  IV. 


The  Great 
Elector, 
1640-1688. 
Tuttle, 
Prussia,  I., 
Chap.  V. 


in  the  future.  She  hardly  felt  the  same  as  yet  in  regard  to 
Prussia.  It  was  the  work  of  Frederick  the  Great  to  bring  , 
his  country  forward  into  the  rank  of  a  first-rate  jpower. 
But  Frederick's  work  was  only  the  natural  conclusion  of  a 
long  line  of  preparation  steadily  followed  by  his  ancestors 
through  several  centuries. 

The  origin  of  the  Hohenzollern  family  was  similar  to  that 
of  the  Hapsburgs.  When  they  first  appear  in  history  "  v 
are  counts  of  a  little  territory  on  the  borders  of  Switzerland. 
Shortly  afterward  Frederick  of  Hohenzollern  was  made 
burggraf  of  Nuremberg.  In  this  office  the  family  displayed 
the  frugal  middle  class  traits  which  have  always  character- 
ized it,  and  at  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  cenfury-the 
Frederick  of  the  day  was  able  to  lend  to  the  Emperor 
Sigismund  a  large  sum  of  money  in  final  payment  of  which 
he  was  made  elector  of  Brandenburg,  which  had  fallen  in  to 
the  Empire  by  the  extinction  of  the  family  of  Albert  the 
Bear.  Then  began  the  process  by  which  the  present  king- 
dom of  Prussia  has  been  created  —  the  union  under  a  single 
rule  of  a  great  number  of  the  little  independent  states  into 
which  North  Germany  was  at  that  time  divided. 
"  385.  The  Chief  Steps  in  the  Making  of  Prussia.  —  We 
can  follow  only  the  most  important  steps  of  this  growth. 
At  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century,  the  inheritance- 
of  the  dukes  of  Juliers  and  Cleves  was  claimed,  and  a  g 
part  of  it  finally  secured,  the  origin  of  Prussia's  Rhenish 
provinces.  In  161 8  the  duchy  of  Prussia,  the^Jand§^Lihe 
old  German  order,  which  since  the  Reformation,  had  been 
held  as  a  secularized  duchy  by  a  younger  branch  of  the 
family,  fell  in  to  the  elector,  but  was  held  as  a  part  of 
the  kingdom  of  Poland.  The  reign  of  the  Great  Ele< 
Frederick  William,  was  a  time  of  rapid  progress.  At  the 
close  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  Brandenburg  received  east 
Pomeraniaj  and  the  secularized  ecclesiastical  states  of  Mag^_ 
deburg,  Halberstadt,  Minden.  and  Cammin.  During  a 
considerable  part  of  his  reign  engaged  in  successful  war 
with    Sweden,  he  was  however    obliged   by  Sweden's  ally, 


from  Greenwich 


£ormayiCo.,N.r. 


§  386]        The  Father  of  Frederick  the  Great  393 

Louis  XIV.,  to  give  up  his  conquests,  and  secured  only  the, 
independence  of  the  duchy  of  Prussia  of  Poland,  and  the 
reputation  of  having  a  fine  army. 

More  important   than    his   conquests   was   his   work   in.  Absolutism 
the  organization  01   tfift   gmvprn™*^      He   centralized  his  founded- 
scattered  states  into  a  single  whole.     He  broke  the  power 
of  the   nobles   and  of  the    local    legislatures   where    these 
existed,  and  established  the  absolute  rule  of  the  sovereign. 
His  successor  joined  the  alliance  against  Louis  XIV.  in  the 
War  of  the  Spanish  Succession,  and  Europe  in  the  peace  of 
Utrecht,  the  same  peace  which  gave   the   title   of  king  to   The  title  of 
the  house  of  Savoy,  recognized  ^is  right  tn  th^  {jfle  of  kinpf  ^nS- 
"  jn  Prussia,"  which  he  had  assumed  in  1701  with  the  con-    Prussia,  I. 
sent  of  the  Emperor.  289-302. 

386.  The  Father  of  Frederick  the  Great.  —  The  second-  Frederick 
king  in  Prussia,  his  son  and  successor,  the  famous  father  o{  William  I., 
Frederick  the  Great,  the  drill  sergeant,  the  corporal,  the 
head  of  the  toJ3ajrxQ-.P.arliameiik_was  a  _  coarse jand_  bruta I 
barbarian  who  cared  nothing  for  art  or  knowledge,  and  was 
only  interested  in  his  soldiers.  He  was  ambitious  to  have 
a  large  and  finely  drilled  army,  but  he  was  unwilling  to  risk 
it  in  battle,  and  took  no  part  in  the  wars  of  his  time,  except  in 
the  last  years  of  the  great  war  against  Sweden.  In  the  peace 
which  followed  the  death  of  Charles  XII.,  he  gained  west 
i^omerania  ior  Prussia,  riis  chief  service  was  to  hand  on  to 
his  son  Frederick  the  army,  whichthe  Great  ...Electorjhac^ 
founded,  more  than  doubled  in  size,  and  made  one  of  the 
best  in  Europe,  and  a  large  surplus  in  the  treasury. 

When   Frederick  II.  came   to   the  throne   circumstances   Prussia 
were  most  favorable  for  a  long  step  forward  towards  the  des-    ready  for  me 
tiny  which  the  different  labors  of  her  rulers  had  been  during  Ausfria!  * 
so  long  a  time  preparing  for  Prussia,  —  to  take  the  place  of  Tuttle, 


Prussia,  II. 
Chap.  I.; 


leadership  in  Germany  which  Austria  hacTbeen  obliged  to 

give  up.     To    obtain    this  a  desperate  struggle  would    be  Longman, 

necessary,  but  Prussia  was  more  favorably  situated  in  north  Frederick 

Germany  than  Austria  in  south.     She  was  stronger  than  any  /W^j^ 

one  realized,  and  her  young  king  was  to  prove  himself  a  31-42. 


394 


Rise  of  Russia  and  Prussia 


[§387 


The  house  of 
Hapsburg 
extinct, 
1740. 


Frederick 
the  first  to 
strike. 
Tuttle, 
Prussia,  II. 

42-56 ; 

Longman, 
Frederick, 
42-46. 


genius  in  the  art  of  war.  The  full  fruits  of  Frederick's 
policy  in  the  actual  headship  of  Germany,  Prussia  did  not 
gather  for  a  hundred  years,  but  before  the  close  of  his  reign 

it  was  plain  to  all  Europe  that 
there  were  two  great  powers 
in  Germany  of  fairly  equal 
strength. 

387.  The  Pragmatic  Sanc- 
tion of  Charles  VI.  — The  op- 
portunity for  which  everything 
was  prepared  came  in  the  very 
year  of  Frederick's  accession. 
The  emperor,  Charles  VI..  was 
the  last  male  descendant  of  thg, 
house  of  Hamburg  Incite 
last  years  of  his  reign  jt^  had 
Been  the  chief  object  of  his 
policy  to  provide  against  the 
partition  of  the  Austrian  ter- 
ritories and  to  secure  the  un- 
divided inheritance  to  his 
daughter  Maria  Theresa.  This 
Me  had  sought  to  accomplish  _ 
by  the  Pragmatic  Sanction,  a 
new  law  of  succession  in  her 
favor,  to  which  he  had  secured 
the  consent  of  most  of  the 
■  >f  Europe  by  treat 
His  death  in  October,  1740, 
revealed  at  once  the  worth- 
lessness  of  these  treaties.  All 
Europe  seemed  to  consider 
the  time  arrived  to  bring  Aus- 
tria to  an  end.  The  electors  of 
Bavaria  and  Saxony  advanced 
claims  to  the  inheritance. 
Spain  and  France  showed  themselves  ready  to  assist.     But 


Gigantic  Grenadier  of 
Frederick  William  I. 


§§  388>  389l        Maria   Theresa  and  Frederick 


395 


Frederick  was  first  in  the  field.  Before  the  end  of  1740, 
without  waiting  for  an  answer  from  Maria  Theresa  to  his 
claims7~and  without  a  declaration  of  war  he  marched  his 
army  into  the  Austrian  province  of  Silesia. 

388.  The  "War  of  the  Austrian  Succession.  1740-1748. — 
His  success  was  rapid.  The  Austrians  were  defeated  at 
Mollwitz.  An  alliance  was  formed  with  France.  The  elector 
oTBavaria  was  recognized  as  Emperor.  Moravia  was  in- 
vaded and  another  victory  gained,  and  in  June,  1742,  Maria 
Theresa  was  ready  to  make  peace  with  Frederick,  that  she 
might  use  all  her  strength  against  her  other  enemies.  The 
peace  of  Breslau  gave  to  Prussia  the  province  of  Silesia  with 
a  million  and  a  half  of  inhabitants.  But  it  was  not  yet  in 
secure  possession. 

The  tide  which  had  been  running  against  Maria  Theresa 
now  turned  in  her  favor.  She  threw  herself  on  the  devotion 
of  the  Hungarians,  and  they  responded  with  enthusiasm. 
The  Bavarians  were  driven  back.  Prague  was  recovered. 
The  English  allies  of  Austria  defeated  the  French  at  Det- 
tingen.  Saxony  and  Savoy  abandoned  the  allies  and  joined 
the  Austrians.  Frederick  began  to  fear  that  Maria  Theresa 
would  recover  Silesia  and  he  renewed  the  war.  Rapidly  he 
gained  the  victories  of  Hohenfriedberg,  Soor,  and  Kessels- 
dorf,  and  captured  Prague,  while  the  French  defeated  the 
English  at  Fontenoy.  Now  Frederick  thought  he  could 
again  make  peace  with  safety,  and  in  the  peace  of  Dresden, 
1 745,  the  cession  of  Silesia  was  confirmed,  while  he  recognized 
Maria  Theresa's  husband,  Francis  of  Lorraine,  as  Emperor. 

389.  Maria  Theresa  determined  to  punish  Frederick. — 
During  the  war  Frederick  II.  had  twice  abandoned  his 
allies  without  hesitation  to  secure  advantages  to  himself,  but 
when  a  general  peace  was  made  at  Aix-la-Chapelle  in  1748 
the  conquests  which  he  had  made  were  sanctioned  by  Eu- 
rope. Frederick  was,  however,  the  only  one  of  her  enemies 
whom  Maria  Theresa  could  not  forgive.  The  especial  per- 
fidy of  his  attack  on  Silesia,  the  loss  of  that  great  province, 
the  impudence  of  the  little  kingdom  of  Prussia  in  assuming 


Frederick 

gains 

Silesia. 

Tuttle, 

Prussia,  II 

Chap.  I II.- 

VI.; 

Longman, 

Frederick, 

46-56. 


The 

Austrians 
recover 
ground. 


Frederick's 
second  war. 
Tuttle, 
Prussia,  II., 
Chap.  VIII. 
Longman, 
Frederick, 
Chap.  V. 

Frederick 
cannot  be 
forgiven. 


39^ 


Rise  of  Russia  and  Prussia 


[§389 


Stone  Bridge  at  Prague 


Europe 
against 
Prussia. 
Hassall, 


so  much  power  and  threatening  the  Austrian  leadership  in 
Germany,  all  combined  to  make  her  determined  to  crush 
Frederick  in  another  war. 

Her  plan  was  to  form  a  great  European  combination 
against  the  little  state,  and  to  raise  up  so  many  enemies  that 
resistance  would  be  hopeless  ;   that,  as  the  Austrian  Than- 


§  39°  ]    France  abandons  her  Hereditary  Enmity     397 

cellor  v.  Kaunitz  said,  they  might  force  upon  Frederick  the  Periods, 

fate  which  Henry  the  Lion  had  once  undergone.     Saxony,  Chap.vm. 

Swedenr   and    Poland  were  not  difficult  to   secure.      The  prussia  m 

Empress  Elizabeth  of  Russia  hated  Frederick  almost  more  Chaps,  vi. 

than  Maria  Theresa,  and  was  impatient  for  the  war  to  begin.  and  VI11-: 

.  Try-      1      1  Longman, 

IJiejn^Lainicult^  but  a  very  necessary,  ally  to  secure  was   Frederick, 
France.  Chap.  VII. 

390.    France  abandons  her  Hereditary  Enmity.  —  Austria 
and  France  had  been  constant  enemies  for  more  than  two 
hundred  years.     It  seemed  like  reversing  all  history  for  them.  Almost  a 
to  join  in  an  alliance  aprain^  anv  other  state.     But  there    reversal  of 
were    reasons    on    both  sides.     Austria  did  not  hesitate  to    11S  °'y' 
make  the  suggestion,  and  she  found  France  ready  to  listen. 
The  French  statesmen  no  longer  feared  Austria.     That  fear 
belonged  to  a  stage  of  history  now  outgrown.     On  the  other 
hand  France  did  fear  that  the  increasing  power  of  Prussia 
would  threaten  her   influence  in  north  Germany,  and  her 
conflict  with  England  for  colonial  empire  made  a  war  with 
that    country    inevitable  ;    in    fact,   it  was  going   on  almost 
without  a. pause  during  this  interval  of  peace  in  Europe. 

i\n  arrangement  which  England  made  with  Prussia  early  England 
in  1756  to  secure  the  neutrality  of  Hanover,  of  which  King 
George  was  sovereign,  was  immediately  followed  by  an 
alliance  between  France  and  Austria.  The  object  of  Maria 
Theresa's  policy  was  not  the  mere  recovery  of  Silesia.  It 
was  practically  the  partition  of  Prussia,  and  she  hoped  by 
this  means  to  be  permanently  rid  of  her  rival  in  Germany. 
It  seemed  as  if  the  plan  must  succeed.  Frederick's  only 
ally  was  England,  and  England's  interest  in  the  war  was 
not  chiefly  in  Europe.  It  was  in  the  colonial  struggle  with  A  struggle 
France  which  was  now  at  its  height,  as  we  shall  see  else-  forcolomaI 

•         T  •         empire, 

where,  and  raging  with  equal  fierceness  in  North  America 

and  in  India.  The  war  now  beginning  in  Europe  was  the 
greatest  of  these  wars,  the  French  and  Indian  War  of  Ameri- 
can colonial  history.  Indeed,  we  may  almost  say  that  the 
war  which  began  with  Spain  in  1 739  continued  unbroken 
until  the  peace  of  Paris  in  1763. 


Prussia's 
only  ally. 


398 


Rise  of  Russia  and  Prussia 


[§39' 


Frederick 
will  not  wait 
to  be 
attacked. 
Tuttle, 
Prussia,  IV., 
Chap.  I. 


Great 
victories. 


The  odds 

against 

Prussia. 

Hassall, 

Periods, 

Chap.  IX. 

Longman, 

Frederick, 

Chaps. 

VIII.-XI., 

and  XV. 


Prussia 
maintains 
herself  to 
the  end. 
Bracken- 
bury, 
Frederick 
the  Great 
(Military 
history, 
Putnam's). 


391.  The  Seven  Years'  War  (1756-1763). — The  allies 
intended  to  begin  the  war  in  1757,  but  Frederick,  who  was 
kept  informed  of  the  negotiations  by  secret  agents  in 
Vienna  and  Dresden,  determined  to  attack  before  their 
preparations  were  complete.  At  the  end  of  August,  1756, 
he  invaded  Saxony,  shut  up  the  Saxon  army  in  Pima, 
defeated  an  Austrian  force  that  came  to  their  aid,  forced 
them  to  surrender,  and  in  less  than  a  month  was  in  entire 
possession  of  Saxony,  which  he  treated  as  if  it  were  annexed 
to  Prussia. 

The  next  year  brought  all  his  enemies  into  the  field,  but 
it  closed  on  the  whole  in  favor  of  Frederick.  He  was  de- 
feated by  the  Austrians  at  Kolin  and  forced  out  of  Bohemia, 
but  he  later  gained  the  great  victories  of  Rossbach  over  the 
French,  and  of  Leuthen  over  the  Austrians,  which  saved 
Silesia. 

But  the  odds  were  really  too  great  for  Frederick.  Rus- 
sian and  Swedish  armies  were  in  Prussian  territory.  The 
losses  which  his  armies  sustained,  in  victories  as  well  as  in 
defeat,  could  not  be  made  good.  England  supplied  money 
but  not  men.  Berlin  was  captured  by  the  Russians. 
Nearly  all  Saxony  and  Silesia  were  lost.  The  country 
held  by  the  enemy  was  laid  waste,  and  the  sufferings  of  the 
people  were  extreme.  But  Frederick  met  these  disasters 
with  fortitude,  though  with  occasional  thoughts  of  suicide, 
and  displayed  the  greatest  military  genius.  He  reorganized 
his  defeated  armies,  faced  his  multitude  of  foes,  won  from 
them  occasional  victories,  and  made  them  purchase  every 
advance. 

In  1760  the  death  of  George  II.  of  England  resulted  in 
the  withdrawal  of  the  supplies  from  that  country,  and  the 
following  year  showed  the  strength  of  Prussia  almost  ex- 
hausted. But  at  the  beginning  of  1762  the  death  of  Eliza- 
beth of  Russia  turned  the  tide.  Her  successor,  Peter  III.,  was 
an  ardent  admirer  of  Frederick's,  and  he  made  peace  at  once. 
Two  considerable  victories  in  the  same  year  were  followed 
by  the  recovery  of  Saxony  and  Silesia.     All  hope  of  destroy- 


§§  392>  393]  Catherine  II  of  Russia  399 

jng  Prussia  seemed  now  at  an_£nxb  France  also  had  lost 
^all^her  colonies,  and  was  tirecj  nf  the  war.  Early  in  1 763 
peace  was  made  between  the  several  parties  to  the  war. 
The  peace  of  Hubertsburg  between  Austria  and  Prussia  left 
to  Frederick  all  his  possessions  at  the  beginning  of  the  war. 

392 .  Prussia  a  Great  Power.  —  Maria  Theresa  was  obliged  Prussia  a 
to  reconcile  herself  to  the  loss  of  Silesia.  Prussia  was  hence-  J^^jjt 
forth  recognized  without  dispute  as  one  of  the  great  powers 
of  Europe,  and  as  a  leader  in  German  affairs,  though  Aus- 
tria maintained  a  rival  leadership  until  1866.  A  few  years 
after  the  peace,  when  the  line  of  the  electors  of  Bavaria 
became  extinct,  Prussia  was  able  to  defeat  the  plans  of 
Austria  for  getting  possession  of  this  the  largest  of  the 
south  German  states,  and  organized  a  league'of  the  princes 
—  called  the  Furstenbund  —  to  prevent  the  increase~oTXus- 
trian  power  in  Germany. 

After   the  war  Frederick   devoted  himself  with   all   the.  Economic 

.    ,  ,      .  .  ,  .         recovery  of 

power  of  a  paternal  despotism,  and  with  success,  to  making   prussja# 

goocflo  his  people  the  losses  01  the  war  and  to  restoring  the  Cariyle, 

prosperity  of  the    country.      Before   the   close  of  hia  life,   ^Jg^/ 

Prussia  was  to  receive   another  large   increase  of  territory   Bk#  XXI.,' 

through  the  first  partition  of  Poland.     In  this  act  the  two  Chap.  II. 

hew  powers,  Russia  and  Prussia,  whose  sudden  rise  was  so 

largely  due  to  unjust  wars  and  the  disregard  of  the  rights 

of  others,  fitly  joined  hands  against  their  weaker  neighbor 

in  a  crowning  act  of  robbery. 

303.    Catherine  IL  of  Russia  (1762-1706).  —  From  the  The  plans 

,        ,        r  t,  ^  i_  •  e  u-      j         U4.         of  Peter  the 

death  of  Peter  the  Great  to  the  accession  of  his  daughter  Great 
Elizabeth  in  1741,  the  history  of  Russia  is  one  of  frequent  resumed. 
revolutions,  and  the  policy  of  Peter  was  but  little  advanced. 
It  was  taken  up  again  by  Elizabeth,  who  forced  Sweden  to 
give  up  Finland,  but  who  gained  nothing  from  her  war 
against  Frederick  the  Great.  Peter  III.,  who  succeeded  her, 
was  thrown  into  prison  by  his  wife,  a  German  princess,  who 
seized  the  throne  and  became  the  famous  Catherine  II. 
The  plans  of  Peter  the  Great  for  the  extension  of  Russia 
to  the  West,  she  made  the  controlling  objects  of  her  policy. 


400 


Rise  of  Russia  and  Prussia      [§§  394>  395 


A  weak  state. 

Rambaud, 

Russia,  II. 

Ii8ff.; 

Hassall, 

Periods, 

Chap.  XI. 


Constitu- 
tional 
anarchy. 


Universal 
corruption. 


Russia  about 
to  absorb 
Poland. 


SwedenT  Polanr],  and  Turkey  were  to  be  forced  to  allow^ 
Russia  a  more  direct  outlet  towards  Europe. 

394.  The  Condition  of  Poland.  —  The  death  of  Augustus 
III.,  in  1763,  gave  Catherine  an  opportunity  to  bring  the . 
Russian  influence  into  the  control  of  Poland,  where  it  had 
been  rapidly  extending  for  some  years.  The  condition  of 
this  country  had  for  a  long  time  invited  the  interference__of 
her  ambitious  neighbors.  It  occupied  a  large  territory  in 
the  centre  of  eastern  Europe,  extending  from  the  Baltic 
almost  to  the  Black  Sea,  and  from  the  Carpathian  Moun- 
tains to  beyond  the  Dneiper.  It  had  a  population  of  twelve 
millions  ruled  by  about  one  hundred  thousand  nobles.  In 
form  the  constitution  was  a  monarchy,  but  the  king  was  elec- 
tive  and  was  only  a  figurehead.  All  real  power  was  in  the 
hands  of  the  nobles,  or  it  may  be  said  in  the  hands  of  each 
noble.  Since  any  act  of  the  Diet  could  be  vetoed  by  a  single 
member  —  the  liberum  veto,  as  it  was  called  —  a  practical 
right  of  nullification  existed  for  every  noble. 

The  nobles  were  a  high-spirited  and  brave  class,  but 
utterly  corrupt  and  selfish.  The  peasantry  were  sunk  in  the 
lowest  serfdom  and  degradation,  hardly  human  beings.  A 
.middle  class  was  wholly  lacking.  The  business,  falling  to 
the  free  burgher  of  western  Europe,  was  entirely  in  the 
hands  of  the  Jews,  who  were  without  political  rights  and  had 
of  course  no  interest  in  the  State.  The  destruction  of 
Poland  was  a  well-merited  punishment  of  the  selfish  cor- 
ruption of  its  ruling  class,  who  would  not  allow  reformation 
or  abandon  their  privileges  in  the  interest  of  the  nation, 
but  who  did  stand  ready  in  large  numbers  to  sell  themselves 
to  the  Russian  or  the  Prussian.  These  facts,  however,  do 
not  jusfiiyTrfe'  open  violation  of  right  and  justice  by  those 
who  destroyed  the  State. 

395.  The  First  Partition  of  Poland.  —  Catherine  secured 
the  election  in  succession  to  Augustus  III.  of  a  former 
favorite  of  her  own,  Stanislaus  Poniatowski.  An  attempt  to 
reform  the  constitution  in  the  interest  of  a  stronger  govern- 
ment was  defeated  by  the  veto  and  a  Russian  army,  and  the 


§395] 


The  First  Partition  of  Poland 


401 


influence  of  Catherine  increased  so  rapidly  in  the  country 
\hat  thefear__oLFrederick  the  Great  was  excited  lest  the 
whole  kingdom  should  beabsorbed  by  Russia,  and  the  Baltic 
provinces  of  Prussia  be  threatened,  and  perhaps  even  the 
existence  of  the  State  as  it  once  had  been  by  Elizabeth. 

Since  the  reform  of  Poland  seemed  impossible,  and  the 
country  could  be  maintained  in  its  present  condition  only 


Frederick 
the  Great 
interferes. 


Frederick  the  Great 

by  a  great  European  war  of  doubtful  issnp.  Frederick  pyo, 
posed  to  Austria  that  they  should  protect  themselves  from 

the  designs  of  Catherine  and  obtain  compensation  for  her 
increase  of  power  by  forcing  her  to  abandon  to  them  a  part 
of  the  spoils.  With  great  reluctance,  Maria  Theresa  al- 
lowed herself  to  be  persuaded  to  this  step,  and  with  great 
difficulty  Catherine  was  made  to  see  the  wisdom  of  yielding 
part  of  her  prey.     The   fall  from  power  in  France  of  the 


402 


Rise  of  Russia  and  Prussia     [§§  396*  397 


The  partition 
made,  1772. 
Map, 
Putzger, 
No.  25. 


War  with 
Turkey. 
Rambaud, 
Russia,  II. 
156-165. 


Russia 
reaches  the 
Black  Sea. 


The  other 
states  of 
Europe 
interested  in 
the  disposi- 
tion of 
Turkey. 
Hassall, 
Periods, 
Chap.  XIII. 


duke  of  Choiseul,  who  wished  to  preserve  the  independence 
of  Poland,  aided  the  conspirators,  and  the  first  partition  was 
carried  through   in  1772.,    The  share  of  Prussia  wag  only 

half  as  large  as  Austria's,  and  one-third  Russia's,  but  it  was 
of  especial  value  to  her  since  it  united  the  outlying  duchy 
of  Prussia  for  the  first  time  with  the  rest  of  her  territories 


by  continuous  possessions,  and  so  afforded  a  strong  guar- 
antee  for  its  safety. 

396.  Further  Russian  Advance.  —  Before  the  second 
partition  of  Poland  took  place,  Russia  had  made  a  great 
advance  in  another  direction.  The  Turks  had  declared  war 
in  1770,  in  aid  of  the  Polish  patriotic  party,  but  fortune  had 
been  against  them.  A  Russian  army  reached  the  Danube. 
Still  more  astonishing,  a  Russian  fleet  suddenly  appearedjn 
Gre<  ian  waters,  having  sailed  around  all  Europe  and  through 
the  straits  of  Gibraltar,  and  surprised  and  almost  destroyed 
the  Turkish  fleet.  Constantinople  itself  nearly  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  Russians.  In  the  peace  which  was  made  in 
1774,  Russia  recovered  the  conquests  which  had  formerly 
been  made  by  Peter  the  Great,  and  more,  with  the  right  to_ 
navigate  the  "BTack  Sea  ami  to  exercise  a  protectorate  in 
favor  of  the  Christians  in  the  Turkish  Fmnirp  and  the 
Crimea  was  declared  independent  of  Turkey.      This 

the  first  great  gain  which  Russia  had  made  at  the  expense 
of  Turkey, jind. the  sudden  success  of  the  Russian  arms  was 
a  further  revelation  to  Europe  of  the  rising  power  of  the 
new  Empire. 

397.  The  Rise  of  the  Eastern  Question.  — This  was  the 
beginning  also  of  the  great  "  Eastern  Question  "  in  the  inter- 
national politics  of  Europe,  which  seems  to-day  no  nearer 
solution  than  it  did  more  than  a  century  ago.  Catherine 
believed  that  she  would  be  able  to  settle  it  in  her  own  reign 
by  taking  what  she  pleased  of  the  possessions  of  the  Sultan. 
But  Austria,  for  centunes  interested  in  extending  its  power 
down  the  Danube,  could  not  take  this  view  of  the  case. 
And  when  Russia  and  Austria  united  in  a  treaty  of  partition 
in  1780,  by  which  Austria  was  to  take  Bosnia,  Herzegovina, 


§  39^]  Poland  at  last  Destroyed  403 

and  Servia, — a  part  of  which  it  actually  received  at  the 
close  of  the  last  war  between  Russia  and  Turkey,  —  and 
Russia  was  to  carry  her  boundaries  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Danube,  then  the  other  states  of  Europe  became  at  once 
interested  in  the  great  extension  of  power  which  seemed 
thus  to  open  before  these  two  countries. 

France  could  not  be  bribed  even  by  the  promise  of  Egypt  Turkey 
to  consent  to  this  arrangement,  but  remained  as  she   had   saved> but 
long  been  the  ally  of  Turkey.     Turkey  defended  herself  as  advances 
best  she   could   against  the  Russian  and  Austrian  armies. 
Sweden  took  advantage  of  the  war  to  attack  Russia  and 
threatened  St.  Petersburg.     Finally   the   accession   to   the 
throne  in  Austria  of  Leopold  II.,  who  was  not  in  favor  of 
continuing  the  war,  induced  Catherine  to  consent  to  peace. 
Russia  received  the  Crimea  and  other  territory  on  the  north 
of  the  Black  Sea,  with  the  right  to  maintain  a  fleet  on  that 
sea,  and  Austria  made  a  small  annexation,  but  the  Turkish 
Empire  still  survived  to  be  a  perpetual  source  of  interna- 
tional  plots,  jealousies,  and  wars. 

398.    Poland  at   last  Destroyed.  —  This    peace   was  fol-   The  second 
lowed  in  the  next  year,  1793,  by  ^he  second  partition  of   Partltl°n- 
Poland.     Another  attempt  had  been  made  by  King  Stanis-   ^ussia  u'# 
laus  to  reform  the  constitution,  and  this  had  received  the    165-179. 
sanction  of  the  king  of  Prussia,  now  Frederick  William  II. 
Catherine,  however,  refused  to  accept  it  and  raised  an  oppo- 
sition party  in  Poland.     A  Russian  army  then  invaded  the 
country.     A  Prussian  army  immediately  entered  from   the 
other  side.     It  was  hoped  that  it  came  to  support  the  con- 
stitution as  the  king  had  agreed,  but  it  at  once  joined  the 
Russian   troops.     A   victory   gained    by   Kosciusko    did    no 
good,  and  the  second   partition  was   soon   completed.     In 
this  Austria  had   no   share.     Prussia's  was  nearly  twice  as 
large  as  in  the  first  partition,  but  Russia's  was  still  the  lion's 
share. 

Kosciusko  and  his  party  refused  to  submit  and  stilt  at-  The  third 
tempted  to  resist  by  arms,  but  their  cause  was  hopeless,  and  Partltlon- 
their  efforts  only  served  to  bring  on  the  end  at  once.     The 


404  Rise  of  Russia  and  Prussia  [§399 

Ihird  partition  took  place  in  1795.  Austria  had  again  part 
in  this,  but  her  share  and  Prussia's  were  as  usual  much  less 
than  that  which  Catherine  took.  Almost  all  Poland  had 
been  absorbed  in  Russia.  But  the  extension  of  territory 
was  the  least  important  gain  which  Russia  had  made.  Her 
whole  western  frontier  now  bordered  on  the  great  states  of 
central  Europe,  on  Prussia  and  Austria,  and  she  had  en- 
tered as  intimately  into  European  politics  as  the  oldest 
Christian  state. 

New  states  399.    A  Revolution  in  the  Political  Situation  of  Europe. 

had  risen        — These  events  constituted  a  revolution  in  the_ai(kirs  of 

and  old  ones         -  '  T~^         , 7 7~^  1        r 

fallen.  Europe.       Iwo  new  states  had  entered  the  first  rank  ot 

powers   and   three   had  disappeared.      Sweden   had   fallen 

from  the  first  rank,     Poland  had  entirely  ceased  to  exist, 

and  Turkey  had  revealed  to  the  world  her  great  weakness. 

These  three  states  had  been  the  allies  of  Frajice  in  her 

conflicts  with  the  house  of  I  lapsburg.  Put  into  other  words 
then,  these  rapid  changes  in  Europe  in  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury  meant  that  France  had  been  unable  to  maintain  the 

great  position  which  she  had  held  under  Louis  XIV.  And 
The  decline  this  was  true.  The  rapid  rise  of  Russia  and  Prussia  was_ 
of  France.  accompanied  with  the  decline  of  France.  But  as  we  shall 
see  in  another  place  this  age  of  her  political  decline  was 
an  age  of  wide  intellectual  inlluence  upon  all  Europe,  and  of 
prep.iraii. -n  for  a  new  age  of  political  leadership  greater 
than  any  state  had  exercised  since  the  days  of  Rome,  —  the 
age  of  Napoleon. 

Topics 


The  power  and  possessions  of  Sweden  in  1700.  The  early  history 
of  Russia.  The  reforms  of  Peter  the  Great.  Charles  XII.  of  Sweden. 
The  gains  of  Russia  from  Sweden.  The  origin  of  the  Hohenzollern. 
Their  great  promotion.  In  what  way  was  Prussia  formed  ?  The  Great 
Elector.  The  preparation  for  Frederick  the  Great.  What  gave  him 
his  opportunity  against  Austria  ?  What  was  gained  from  Austria  ? 
Maria  Theresa's  policy  of  revenge.  Why  did  France  join  Austria  ? 
What  was  the  interest  of  England  in  the  matter  ?  The  course  of  the 
Seven  Years'  War.  How  did  the  war  leave  Prussia  in  Europe  ?  In 
Germany  ?     The  condition  of  Poland.     The  history  of  the  first  parti- 


Topics  405 

tion.  Russian  advance  towards  the  south.  What  is  the  "  Eastern 
Question"?  How  did  it  arise?  The  final  destruction  of  Poland. 
The  change  in  the  European  situation  made  in  this  age. 

Topics  for  Assigned  Studies 

The  father  of  Frederick  the  Great.    Tuttle,  Prussia,  L,  Chaps.  IX-XI. 

Longman,  Frederick  the  Great,  Chap.  III.     Carlyle,  Frederick  the 

Great,  Bk.  IV.,  Chap.  IV. 
The  first   partition  of  Poland.     Perkins,  Louis  XV.,  I.,  Chap.  XXI. 

Rambaud,  Russia,   II.,   122-130.      Carlyle,  Frederick  the  Great, 

Bk.  XXL,  Chap.  IV. 


CHAPTER   IV 

THE  STRUGGLE   FOR   COLONIAL   EMPIRE 

Books  for  Reference  and  Further  Reading 

Lucas,  Historical  Geography  of  the  British    Colonies.     Introduction. 

(Clarendon;  $1.00.) 
Payne,  History  of  European  Colonies.     (Macmillan;   $1.10.) 
Seeley,  The  Expansion  of  England.     (Little,  Brown  &  Co.;   $1.75.) 
Story,  Building  of  the  British  Empire.     2  vols.     (Nations.) 
Parkman,  Half  Century  of  Conflict.     2  vols.     Montcalm  and  Wolfe. 

2  vols.     (Little,  Brown  &  Co.;  $8.00.) 
Perkins,  France  under  Louis  XV.     2  vols.     (Houghton;   $4.00.) 
Lecky,  History  of  England  in  the  Eighteenth  Century.     7  vols.     ( Ap- 

pleton;  #7.00.) 
Mahan,  Influence  of  Sea  Power  upon  History.     (Little,  Brown  &  Co.; 

#4-oa) 


France  loses 
more  than 
supremacy 
in  Europe. 


World 
supremacy 
in  commerce 
and  colonies. 


400.  The  Dawn  of  the  Age  of  World  Politics.  —  In  the 
international  politics  of  Europe,  France  had  declined,  dur- 
ing the  eighteenth  century,  from  the  position  of  commanding 
influence  which  she  had  occupied  when  the  century  opened. 
In  the  same  century,  a  position  of  far  more  commanding  in- 
fluence than  any  limited  to  the  continent  of  Europe  merely, 
and  one  which  France  could  very  likely  have  gained  if  she 
had  followed  a  wiser  policy,  was  finally  lost  to  her.  For 
this  century  covers  almost  the  whole  of  and  finally  decides 
the  struggle  between  France  and  England  for  colonial  em- 
pire, for  a  commanding  position  in  the  world  as  a  whole,  not 
\\\  a  single  continent,  and  the  decision  goes  against  France^, 

This  is  almost  the  same  as  saying  that  in  this  century  new 

begin  to  guide  the  policy  of  European  states,  or  at 

least  of  some  of  them,  interests  not  connected  with  those 

406 


§  4°i]  First  Modem  Colonial  Powers  407 

which  concerned  the  balance  of  power  in  Europe,  but  with 
the  question  of  a  wider  balance  of  power,  or  rather  with  the 
struggle  to  overcome  all  rivals  and  to  obtain  an  exclusive 
commercial  and  colonial  control  of  all  seas  and  continents. 
This  new  interest  was  slow  in  making  itself  felt  as  a  guiding 
influence  in  the  eighteenth  century.  England  was  the  first 
to  be  moved  by  it,  very  greatly  to  her  advantage.  France 
followed  some  little  distance  after  and  partly,  but  not  fully, 
realized  the  importance  of  the  interests  at  stake  before  the 
struggle  was  concluded.  It  is  only  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury and  perhaps  only  the  last  half  of  it,  that  we  can  say  that 
these  new  questions  have  been  steadily  pushing  those  of 
merely  European  international  politics  down  into  a  second- 
ary place. 

401 .  The  First  Modern  Colonial  Powers.  —  France  was  not  Other  coio- 
the  first  rival  of  England  in  this  struggle,  nor  were  either  mal  Powers- 
France  or  England  the  first  of  the  world's  great  commercial 
and  colonial  powers. 

We  have  already  studied  the  expansion,  during  the  age  of  Portugal  and 
the  Renaissance,  of  the  medieval  Mediterranean  commerce  sPam- 
into  the  ocean  commerce  of  modern  times  in  consequence 
of  the  discoveries  of  the  Portuguese  in  Africa  an^  India1  and 
of  the  Spanish  in  America.  Both  these  nations  immediately 
took  possession  of  the  countries  which  their  explorers  had 
reached,  and  so  began  the  first  age  of  European  colonial 
history. 

"The  Portuguese  established  their  factories  along  the 
coasts  of  India  and  in  the  East  India  Islands,  and  under 
the  Viceroy  Albuquerque  exercised  a  kind  of  authority 
over  the  whole  East.  In  the  West,  Cortez  conquered 
Mexico  for  Spain,  and  Pizarro  conquered  Peru.  The  fabu- 
lous riches  of  these  western  lands  attracted  to  them  large 
numbers  of  Spaniards.  At  one  time  there  was  a  fever  of 
emigration  in  Castile  almost  like  the  rush  for  newly  dis- 
covered and  rich  gold-fields  in  these  days.  There  were  very 
many  more  Spaniards  who  went  to  America  than  there  were 
of  Portuguese  who  went  to  the  East. 


408 


Struggle  for  Colonial  Empire    [§§  4o2>  4°3 


But  no 

colonies  in 

the  English 

sense. 

Lucas, 

Introduction, 

61-07; 

Payne, 

European 

Colonies, 

39-53- 


The  Spanish 
the  first 
world 
empire. 


In  conflict 
with  Spain. 
Lucas, 
Introduction, 
74-81 ; 
Payne, 
Colonies, 
53-64. 


_Still  neither  of  these  nations  established  colonies  in  our 

understanding  of  that  word.  The  Portuguese  establishments 
in  India  werejraglirig-sjtations,  to  which  men  went  for  a  time 
to  make  themselves  fortunes  and  then  to  return  home  to 
enjoy  the  results.  The  Spanish,  in  America  were  garrisons, 
and  overseers  of  mines,  and  adventurers,  whose  object  was 
the  same,  to  send  or  carry  back  to  Spain  as  much  wealth  as 
possible,  gained  from  the  new  country.  The  Spanish  estab- 
lishments grew  in  the  end  into  a  much  more  permanent  and 
real  colonization  than  the  Portuguese,  but  this  was  not  their 
original  intention.  The  idea  of  finding  in  thesejands  a  new 
home  for  the  people,  where  another  nation  of  the  same 
blood  and  language  as  the  mother  nation  should  grow  up, 
to  enlarge  at  once  the  power  of  the  State  and  the  prosperity 
of  its  citizens,  had  not  yet  arisen. 

402.  Spain's  World  Power  Threatened.  — We  have  seen 
elsewhere  how  successful  at  first  this  policy  was  of  drawing 
as  much  wealth  as  possible  for  the  home  country  from  the 
colony,  and  what  was  its  final  effect.  The  mines  of  America 
added  much  to  the  resources  of  Charles  V.  in  his  conflict  for 
empire  in  Europe.  When  under  his  son  Philip  II.  Portu- 
gal was  absorbed  in  the  Spanish  monarchy  and  the  East 
Indies  were  added  to  the  West  in  the  possession  of  Spain, 
it  seemed  as  if  a  real  world  empire  were  about  to  be  es- 
tablished. But  the  reign  of  Philip  saw  the  rise  of  two  new 
commercial  and  colonial  powers,  near  together  in  time  and 
under  very  similar  circumstances,  partly  at  least  as  the  result 
of  his  own  mistaken  policy,  as  Spain  and  Portugal  had  risen 
together  in  the  age  of  the  Renaissance. 

403.  The  Rise  of  the  Dutch  Empire-  —  One  of  these  was 
a  country  which  at  the  beginning  of  Philip's  reign  had  been 
his  own,  and  which  his  despotism  and  intolerance  had  driven 
into  independence.  Familiar  with  the  sea  from  before  the 
time  when  Caesar  wrote  his  description  of  them,  depending 
for  a  large  part  of  their  livelihood  upon  the  difficult  and 
dangerous  ocean  fisheries,  the  best  training-school  of  sailors, 
and  having  also  already  a  good  beginning  of  commerce,  the 


§  4°4]        Beginning  of  the  EnglisJi  Empire  409 

rapid  rise  of  the  Dutch  into  a  great  naval  and  commercial 
power  need  not  surprise  us.  Hard  blows  were  to  be  struck 
the  Spanish  power  on  many  seas,  and  the  native  vigor  of  the 
Dutch,  reinforced  by  the  tremendous  energy  excited  by 
their  desperate  struggle  for  independence,  carried  them 
far. 

It  was  Portugal,  after  her  absorption  in  Spain,  that  suf- 
fered the  heaviest  actual  losses  from  the  attacks  of  the  Dutch, 
and  in  the  East  Indies  the  new  colonial  empire  of  Holland 
was  created.  She  took  the  great  Spice  Islands  and  Ceylon, 
and  established  factories  on  both  the  east  and  west  coast  of 
India. 

In  1602  the  East  India  Company  was  founded,  followed   New  Nether- 
soon   by   the   West    India   Company,  which   founded   the   lands  and 
colony  of  New  Netherlands  in  America.     Soon  afterward  ^QZ  ° 
the  settlement  of  Batavia  was  made  in  the  East,  destined  to  British 
great  prosperity,  and  in  no  long  time   the   Cape  of  Good   EmPire^ T- 
Hope  was  occupied  by  an  agricultural  colony  for  the  supply- 
ing of  ships  on   the  long  India  voyage.     The   East  India 
commerce  was  still  very  profitable,  though  less  so  than  it  had 
once  been  ;   Amsterdam  became  the  chief  entry  and  distrib- 
uting port  for  Oriental  goods  for  Europe ;  and  a  large  part 
of  the  world's  carrying  trade  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Dutch. 

404.     The  Beginning  of   the  English  Empire.  —  But  in   Contempo- 
the  meantime  another  commercial  power  was  rising,  not  so   rary  wlth  the 
rapidly  as  Holland,  but  very  largely  out  of  the  same  condi- 
tions, —  a  power  which  was  destined,  not  to  destroy  the  com- 
merce of  Holland,  but  to  set  a  limit  to  its  expansion.     Thia 
was  England. 

In  very  early  times,  owing  to  their  situation,  the  English  The  English 
had  "become  a  sea-going  people.  At  the  opening  of  the  necessaniy 
thirteenth  century  England  had  asserted  her  right  to  rule  the 
narrow  seas.  Her  commercial  connection  with  Flanders, 
and  still  more  with  the  territories  which  she  held  in  the 
southwest  of  France,  created  interests  which  exercised  a 
decisive  influence  upon  her  foreign  policy  in  the  fourteenth 
century.     Before  the  close  of  the  fifteenth,  her  navigators 


4io 


Struggle  for  Colonial  Empire 


[§404 


had  had  a  fair  share  in  the  explorations  of  the  time,  and  to 
one  of  them,  Cabot,  had  fallen  the  honor  of  first  seeing  the 
continent  of  America. 
beg^iwTn  the       StiU  through  the  whole  sixteenth  century,  the  great  age_o£ 
struggle  with   Spanish  and  Portuguese  commerce,  or  at  least  until  the  very; 
Spain.  end  of  it,  England  was  not  a  sea  power.     It  was  the  conflict 

British  w*tn  PninP  H-i  tne  struggle  for  the  defence  of  religious  and 

Empire,  political  independence,  as  in  the  case  of  Holland,  which  be- 


)ue  at  Delhi 


Bk.  I., 

Chaps.  III.- 
VI. 

The  warfare 
in  the  Span- 
ish main. 
The  Last 
Fight  of  the 
Revenge 
(Arber 
Reprints)  ; 
Payne, 


gan  the  naval  glories  of  English  history  and  turned  theatten- 
tion  of  her  people  to  distant  commercial  enterprises. 

It  was  a  most  attractive  warfare.  Rich  plunder,  strange 
adventures,  and  the  striking  of  hard  blows  at  the  bitterest  of 
enemies,  all  were  to  be  had  at  one  time.  It  is  not  strange 
that  with  these  inducements,  and  with  the  energy  and  enthusi- 
asm of  a  young  race  in  an  age  of  great  events  on  every  side, 
the  deeds  of  the  English  seamen  in  the  first  age  of  the  struggle 
for  empire  have  never  been  surpassed  in  any  later  one. 


§405] 


The  First  English  Colonies 


411 


405.     The   First   English   Colonies.  —  In  one  sense  the 

modern  colonial  supremacy  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  is  de- 
served, for  the  real  colony,  as  a  new  home  of  the  people,  in 
distinction  from  the  trading-station,  was  begun  by  Englishmen. 
It  was  the  work,  however,  of  the  people  themselves  and  not 
of  the  government. 

Perhaps  this  honor  is  hardly  to  be  given  to  the  first  per- 
manent English  settlement  in  America,  that  of  Jamestown  in 
1606.  But  whatever  may  have  been  the  original  intention 
which  influenced  the  first  settlers  to  undertake  the  enterprise, 
it  very  soon  found  its  great  source  of  wealth  in  tobacco  and 
not  in  gold,  and  grew  into  an  agricultural  colony,  the 
planters  with  their  families  looking  upon  the  country  as 
their  home.  The  same  thing  may  be  said,  both  as  to  origi- 
nal intention  and  later 
history,  of  the  Dutch 
colony  which  was  estab- 
lished at  New  Amster- 
dam in  1 6 14.  But-in 
1620  there  was  founded 
at  Plymouth,  in  New 
England,  a  settlement 
whose  purpose  was 
from  the  start,  not  to 
open  up  trade  or  to  dis- 
cover mines,  but  to  find 
a  new  and  permanent 
home  for  the  founders 
and  their  posterity. 

These  were  the  Pil- 
grims, of  the  extreme  Puritan  party,  called  Independents,  who 
had  fled  from  England  to  Holland  to  escape  the  persecution 
of  the  State  in  the  early  part  of  the  reign  of  James  L,  and 
afterwards  abandoned  Holland  for  America,  to  keep  them- 
selves from  absorption  in  the  Dutch,  to  preserve  their  lan- 
guage, race,  and  institutions.  They  were  followed  in  ten 
years  by  much  larger  numbers  of  the  Puritans,  who  founded 


William  Penn 


Voyages  of 
Elizabethan 
Seamen 
(Clarendon); 
Froude, 
English 
Seamen  in 
XVI. 
Century 
(Scribner)  ; 
Kingsley, 
Westward 
Ho!  (novel). 

The  first  real 
•colonies 
English. 
Lucas, 
Introduction, 
90-99. 

Virginia  and 
Plymouth. 
Green, 
English 
People,  III. 
167-171 ; 
Am.  Hist. 
Leaf.,  27  and 
29;  Old 
South,  48-51. 


The 
Pilgrims. 


The 
Puritans. 


412 


Struggle  for  Colonial  Empire     [§§  406-408 


Founded 
from  various 
motives. 


Sweden's 
colony. 


Beginning 
about  the 
middle  of  the 
seventeenth 
century. 
Story, 
British 
Empire,  I. 
250-255. 


the  colonies  of  Salem  and  Massachusetts  Bay,  and  a  little 
later  of  Connecticut  and  New  Haven.  In  America  these 
Puritans  all  became  Independents,  and  organized  the  churches 
called  Congregational. 

406.  The  Thirteen  Colonies.  —  This  beginning  of  colonies 
was  followed  by  many  others  of  different  kinds  —  Maryland 
for  the  Catholics,  Pennsylvania  for  the  Quakers,  Rhode  Islands, 
for  the  oppressed  of  all  names,  the  Carolinas  by  a  corpora- 
tion of  English  gentlemen,  Georgia  for  the  debtor  class  — 
during  the  seventeenth  and  the  last  not  until  near  the  middle 
of  the  eighteenth  century.  It  is  a  very  interesting  indication 
of  the  feeling  that  was  now  beginning  to  grow  up  in  Europe 
about  colonies,  or  at  least  trading-stations,  in  the  new  parts 
of  the  world,  and  their  relation  to  the  position  of  a  power  of 
the  first  rank,  that  Sweden  during  the  time  of  her  greatness 
in  the  Thirty  Year's  War  attempted  to  secure  her  "share  in 
the  division  of  North  America,  and  began  the  colony  of 
Delaware.  The  same  feeling  is  indicated  by  the  attempt  of 
the  Great  Elector  to  obtain  trading-stations  for  the  rising 
state  of  Prussia  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  a  little  later  in  the 
same  century.  His  experiment  was  even  less  successful 
than  that  of  Sweden. 

407.  Conflict  between  England  and  Holland. — The  Thir- 
teen Colonies  of  North  America  were  only  begun  when  the 
conflict  came  on  between  England  and  Holland.  This 
was  hardly  to  be  avoided  on  account  of  their  conflicting  in- 
terests in  the  East.  England  had  begun  to  try  for  a  share 
in  this  rich  trade  as  early  as  Holland.  Her  East  India  Com- 
pany was,  indeed,  organized  first,  in  the  year  1600.  It  was 
a  little  more  than  fifty  years  after  this  date  before  their  rival- 
ries brought  the  countries  to  actual  war  with  one  another, 
but  their  traders  were  fighting  for  the  possession  of  the  mar- 
kets of  the  East  and  for  favorable  stations  before  the  begin- 
ning of  declared  war.  The  massacre  of  the  English  residents 
at  Amboyna  by  the  Dutch,  in  1623,  is  only  the  worst  of 
many  incidents  in  these  conflicts  before  actual  war  began. 

408.  Government  Colonial  Policy,  Laws,  and  War.  —  It  is 


§  409]      Poiver  of  Holland  broken  by  France         413 

from  the   time  of  Cromwell's   rule    that  we   may  date    the   The  begin- 
beginning  of  a  continuous  commercial  and  colonial  policy  on   ninS  of 

^■»&— —■*— y  ,■  ■  '  _.      ..  .  '.-■         .  t    '      '    '      government 

the  part  of  the  English  government.  How  far  we  have  a  coioniai 
right  to  attribute  such  a  policy  to  Cromwell  himself,  as  one  policy. 
consciously  and  understanding^  chosen,  is  doubtful.  Prob- 
ably in  this  as  in  other  things  he  did  noF  see  very  far  into 
the  future,  but  did  with  great  vigor  and  decision  the  thing 
that  seemed  at  the  moment  to  be  the  wisest.  But  with  him 
began  the  measures  which  long  characterized  English  policy, 
to  defend  and  "develop  commerce  and  the  colonies,  not  as 
colonies  mainly  but  as  feeders  of  commerce,  by  acts  of  Par- 
liament and  whenever  necessary  by  war. 

In  1 65 1  was  passed  the  first  Navigation  Act,  which  forbade   The  first 
the  importation  of  goods  into  any  English  possession  except   Navigation 
in  English  vessels  or  in  the  vessels  of  the  country  producing  Am'  Hist' 
the  goods.     This  was  aimed  directly  at  the  great  carrying   Leaf.,  19. 
trade  of  the   Dutch,  and  was  intended  to  transfer  this  to 
English  ships.     Laws  of  this  kind,  successively  passed,  re- 
mained in  force  until  into  the  nineteenth  century.     In  the 
next  year  came  the  first  war  with  Holland,  a  war  of  fleets, 
which  lasted  two  years  and  closed  without  decisive  results, 
though  the  advantage  was  chiefly  with  England.     In  a  war 
of  Cromwell's  with  Spain  was  made  the  first  important  Eng- 
lish colonial  conquest,  the  island  of  Jamaica. 

409.  The  Power  of  Holland  broken  by  France.  —  The  ruin 
of  Holland,  however,  as  a  great  commercial  power,  was  in 
the  end  not  so  much  the  act  of  England  as  of  Louis  XIV., 
"though  he  had  the  help  of  England  in  a  part  of  the  process. 
A  short  war  between  England  and  Holland  a  few  years  after 
the  restoration  of  Charles  II.  led  to  no  more  decisive  con-  Green, 
elusion  than  that  of  Cromwell,  but  it  is  remarkable  for  the   E"£ll?h 

People, 

appearance  of  a  hostile  fleet  in  the  Thames  within  sight  of  ni.  371-375. 
London,  and  for  the  conquest  of  New  York,  though  this  was 
really  made  before  the  war  began. 

In  the  great  Dutch  war  which  Louis  XIV.  made  upon  the  England's 

Dutch  Republic,  to  punish  the  little  state  for  having  dared  to  ^^  ^ith 

check  by  the  Triple  Alliance  his  conquests  in  the  Spanish  this  age. 


4H 


Struggle  for  Colonial  Empire 


[§  4io 


England 
fighting  for 
Holland. 


Netherlands,  the  French  monarch  had  the  aid  of  Charles  II. 
under  a  secret  treaty  and  for  an  annual  pension,  until  in 
the  last  part  of  the  war  public  opinion  forced  him  to  with- 
draw. This  was  the  last  war  which  England  jnade  upon 
Holland,  the  last  war  between  them  until  Holland  joined  the 
enemies  of  England  in  the  war  of  the  American  Revolution. 
In  the  later  wars  of  Louis  XIV.  the  two  countries  were  allies 
against  the  French.  But  these  long  and,  during  some  of  the 
time,  desperate  wars  had  exhausted  the  wealth  and  greatly__ 
weakened  the  power  of  the  Dutch.     It  was  too  small  a  state 


Champi  ain 


for  so  long  and  violent  a  strain.  On  the  other  hand  the 
English  commerce  had  been  rapidly  extending  as  the  Dutch 
declined,  and  England  now  left  Holland  behind  in  the  race 
as  both  had  earlier  distanced  Portugal  and  Spain. 
In  the  age  of  410.  The  Beginning  of  Rivalry  with  France.  —  But  these 
Louis  xiv.  wars  Qf  loujs  xiV.  were  not  over  before  it  became  evident 
to  the  colonists  in  North  America,  and  more  slowly  to  the 
government  at  home,  that  there  was  a  new  and  perhaps 


§§  4n?  4i2]  Colonial   Wars  415 

more  dangerous  rival  in  the  field,  with  whom  a  conflict  must 
now  begin.     This  was,  France. 

The  French  had  established  a  settlement  in  North  Amer-    in  North 
ica,  in  1605,  before  the  English,  but  the  English  colonies,   America- 
once  begun,  filled  up  more  rapidly  with  settlers.     On  the    cohnies, 
other  hand  the  French  occupation  was  more  widely  extended.   80-89. 
and  tJiejM^ame_tohold,  before  the  close  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  an  important  strategic  position  which  gave  them  a 
very  decided  advantage  in  a  struggle  for  the  possession  of 
the  continent.     From  Louisiana  up  the  Mississippi  and  Ohio   The  French 
rivers  to  the  Great  Lakes  and  Canada,  they  laid  claim  to  the   have  the 
whole  interior,  and  would  shut  the  English  in  between  the   of  position 
mountains  and  the  Atlantic.     In  America  the  French  saw 
the  advantage  which  they  possessed,  but  it  was  impossible 
to  persuade  the  government  at  home  to  make  full  use  of 
it.     France  was  too  deeply  interested  in  the  politics  of  the 
continent  of  Europe  to  realize  the  rise  of  these  new  and 
greater  interests  until  the  opportunity  was  passed. 

411.  The  Advantages  of  the  English. — This  one  advan-  Numbers 
tage  of  position  was  the  chief  one  which  the  French  pos-  and  inde" 
sessed.     Almost  everything  else  was  in  favor  of  the  English. 

Their  colonies  were  filled  with  a  much  larger  number  of  per- 
manent settlers.    The  bigotry  of  the  French  government  came 
to  their  aid,  for  it  refused  to  allow  homes  in  the  colonies  to 
the   Huguenot   exiles,  and   they  added   to  more  than  one 
of  the  Thirteen  Colonies  a  valuable  element  which  would 
have  gone  to  the  side  of  the  French  had  it  been  allowed.    French 
The  French  government  also  extended  its  paternal  despotism    colonial 
to  the  colonies,  from  the  days  of  Colbert,  vexing  them  with   Pohfy" 
minute  and  unsuitable  regulations,  which    hampered    their    old  Regime, 
free  development,  while  the  English  colonies  were  especially   Chaps.  XII.- 
fortunate  in  being  left  almost  entirely  to  themselves.  Lxlgbs 

412.  Colonial  Wars. — The  last  two  wars  of  Louis  XIV. 's   introduction, 
had  been  colonial  as  well  as  European  wars.     The  first  is   81-89. 
called  in  American  colonial  history  King  William's  War,  and    King 

the  second,  which  was  in  Europe  the  War  of  the  Spanish  and  Queen 
Succession,  is  known  as  Queen  Anne's  War.     These  were  Anne's  War. 


4i6 


Struggle  for  Colonial  Empire 


[§4i3 


mainly  wars  of  the  colonists  with  one  another  to  which  the 
home  governments,  absorbed  in  the  European  struggle,,  paid 
little  attention.  They  show  clearly  enough,  however,  that  in 
America  the  great  conflict  was  opening,  and  that  the  colonists 
realized  the  importance  of  the  issue.  Neither  led  to  decisive 
results,  though  in  the  second  Nova  Scotia — Acadia  —  was 
conquered,  mainly  by  the  efforts  of  the  New  England  colonists, 
and  was  ceded  to  England  at  the  peace  of  Utrecht,  together 
with  Newfoundland  and  the  Hudson  Bay  territory. 

Queen  Anne's  War  was  followed  by  thirty  years  of  peace, 
during  which  the  colonies  of  both  nations  in  America  were 
developing  very  rapidly,  the  English  more  rapidly  than  the 
French  in  population  and  resources.  In  Europe,  France 
was  becoming  by  degrees  more  conscious  of  the  real  char- 
acter of  the  conflict  before  it,  and  was  endeavoring  to  pre- 
pare for  it  by  the  strengthening  of  her  fleets  and  the 
encouragement  of  commercial  enterprises,  but  she  could 
not,  unfortunately  for  her  future,  getj-jd  of  the  belief,  in 
which  she  had  been  trained  for  so  many  generations,  of  the 
superior  importance  of  European  politics  and  of  the  great 
danger  which  threatened  her  from  the  house  of  Austria. 
Spain  also  was  alarmed  at  the  progress  which  the  unauthor- 
ized English  commerce  with  her  colonies  was  making. 
This  she  now  endeavored  to  stop,  and  she  also  strengthened 
her  fleets,  and  made  an  alliance  with  France. 

413.  The  Situation  in  India.  —  It  was  in  India,  however, 
that  the  greatest  changes  occurred  in  this  quarter  of  a 
century.  The  situation  there  was  one  especially  favorable 
to  the  building  up  of  a  foreign  dominion.  The  Empire  of 
the  Great  Mogul  was  falling  to  pieces,  and  numerous  little 
states  were  gaining  an  insecure  kind  of  independence,  with 
the  natural  result  that  there  was  more  anarchy  than  good 
government,  and  that  it  was  easy  for  a  strong  outside  power 
to  gain  a  footing  in  alii. met-  with  one  native  state  or  another 
and  begin  the  creation  of  a  territorial  dominion.  It  -was 
easy,  indeed,  for  two  outside  powers  to  carry  this  process  on 
until  they  came  into  collision  with  one  another. 


§414] 


King  George  s  War 


417 


In  Europe 
the  War  of 
the  Austrian 
Succession. 
Green, 
English 
People,  IV. 
164-173. 

England  and 


This  change,  by  which  a  trading  company  was  transformed   France  has 

into  the  political  ruler  of  wide   territories  and    millions  of  thebest 

,     .                          .                        position, 
human  beings,  was   a   most   revolutionary  one,  but  it  was 

well  under  way  before  the  next  war  between  France  and 

England  began.     As  in  America,  so  in  India,  the  French 

had  at  the  beginning  of  the  war  much  the  stronger  position. 

THeyTiad   also  the   decided   advantage  in  the  first  war  in 

India  of  commanders  of  genius. 

414.    King  George's  War.  —  Frederick  the  Great's  attack 
on  Maria  Theresa,  in  order  to  seize  the  province  of  Silesia 
and  to  lead  in  the   partition  of  the  Austrian  dominions, 
opened  the  war  between  France  and  England.     England 
was  on  the  side  of  Maria  Theresa,  but  if  France  had  been 
for  her,  England  would  have  been  against  her,  as  was  the 
case  in  the  next  war.      Before  this  European  war  broke  out 
England  and  Spain  had  come  to  blows,  in  consequence  of  sPain  at  war 
the  attempts  of  the  Spanish  to  break  up  the  English  com-    I?39' 
merce  with  their  colonies.     Throughout  this_ was  for  Eng- 
land a  commercial  war,  and  this  clearness  of  aim  went  far  to 
balance  tKe  better  position 
of  France  in  the  colonies, 
for  France  did  not  realize 
even  yet  as  clearly  as  Eng- 
land what  was  at  stake. 

The  war,  which  lasted 
from  1 74 1  to  1748,  did 
not  end  in  the  triumph  of 
either  nation,  but  the  pe- 
riod is  characterized  by  a 
very  rapid  extension  of 
the  French  power  in  In- 
dia, and  hardly  less  so  in 
America.  In  India  the 
French  interests  were  in 
the  hands  of  Dupleix,  a 

most  able  and  successful  statesman,  who  marked  out  the  way 
to  empire  which  the  English  have  since  followed,  —  conquest 


The  French 
gaining  a 
stronger 
position  in 
India; 
Perkins, 
Louis  XV., 
I.,  Chap.  IX.; 
Malleson, 
Dupleix 
(Macmillan) ; 


Dupleix 


41 8  Struggle  for  Colonial  Empire     [§§4i5>4ir> 


and  in 
America. 


The  capture 
and  return  of 
Louisburg. 
Parkman, 
Half 
Century, 
Chaps.  XIX. 
and  XX. 


The  war  does 
not  stop  in 
America. 
Parkman, 
Montcalm, 
Chap.  VII. 


here,  alliance  there,  and  drilled  native  soldiers  to  supplement 
his  European  troops.  Had  the  French  officers  in  India  been 
more  ready  to  cooperate  heartily  with  one  another,  and  had 
home  government  been  willing  to  put  its  strength  into  their 
support,  the  issue  would  most  likely  have  been  different.  In^ 
America,  al^o,  the  French  became  during  this  war  con- 
scious  ot  the  great  advantages  of  their  geographical  position 
in  the  interior  of  the  continent,  and  they  began  to  connect 
Canada  and  Louisiana  with  a  chain  of  fortified  posts  along 
the  great  rivers.  a  measure  which  excited  the  serious  alarm 
of  the  English  colonists. 

415.  The  Close  of  the  War.  —  Only^one  event  of  the 
war  is  important  here.  That  was  the  capture,  in  1745,  of 
the  strong  fortress  of  Louisburg,  the  "Gibraltar  of  America," 
by_JiQpj3s  of  the  New  England  colonies.  At  the  close  of 
the  war,  Louisburg  was  returned  to  France  in  exchange" fbT 
Madras  in  India,  which  had  been  taken  by  the  French. 
The  people  of  New  England  thought  this  was  a  sacrifice  of 
their  interests,  and  to  a  certain  extent  they  were  right,  but 
for  the  interests  of  the  Empire  at  large  —  and  we  have  now 
a  right  to  speak  of  the  Empire  —  the  recovery  of  Madras 
more  than  outweighed  the  surrender  of  Louisburg.  These 
two  events,  however,  the  conspicuous  success  of  the  New 
England  troops  and  the  apparent  heartless  disregard  oLlhe 
interest  of  the  colonies  by  the  home  government,  became 
important  influences  preparing  for  the  American  Revolution. 

416.  The  Interval  of  Nominal  Peace.  — So  clearly  was  it 
seen  in  the  colonies  that  the  conflict  must  go  on  until  one 
party  or  the  other  was  forced  to  yield,  that  the  peace  of 
Aix-la-Chapelle,  which  the  two  nations  signed  in  Europe  in 
1.748,  hardly  made  a  pause  in  the  war  in  America,  and 
suspended  it  only  in  form  in  India.  For  the  Thirteen 
Colonies  the  occupation  of  the  interior  was  a  matter  of  the 
most  vital  importance,  since  on  it  depended  all  opportunity 
of  future  expansion.  They  could  not  sit  quietly  by  and  let 
the  French  take  possession.  Washington's  expedition,  Brad- 
dock's  disastrous  attack  on  Fort  Duquesne,  and  the  attack 


§  417]  The  Great  Colonial   War    .  419 

on  the  upper  French  posts  near  Lake  George,  were  all 
attempts  of  the  colonists  to  break  through  the  barrier  which 
the  French  were  erecting  against  them,  and  they  were  not 
the  less  real  war  because  no  formal  declaration  had  been 
made. 

In  India  France  lost  her  advantages  through  the  blind-  And  Clive 
ness  of  the  authorities  at  home.     Dupleix's  operations  were  rene™s  u 

r  r  in  India. 

cut  short  because  they  were  too  expensive,  and  then  the  Wilson, 
English  succeeded   in   getting   him    recalled    because   his   aive> and 
schemes  might  lead  to  a  renewal  of  the  war.     There  was  Lord%ciive 
no  other  genius  on  the  French  side,  but  one  immediately   (Macmiiian). 
arose  on  the  English.     (Hjve^  began  to  profit  by  the  lessons 
which  Dupleix  had  taught,  and  to  open  a  new  war,  under 
the  thin  veil  of  aiding  one  native  state  against  another. 
His  brilliant  capture  and  defence  of  Arcot  took  place  before 
the  declaration  of  war. 

417.   The   Great   Colonial  War.     1756 -1763.  —  Maria  The 
Theresa's  war  of  revenge,  in  which  she  united  almost  all   "  French  and 
Europe  against  Frederick  the  Great,  the  Seven  Years'  War   .   Americar 
of  European  history,  was  the  signal  for  the  next  war  in  the   story, 
colonial  struggle.     Xhis  was  the  great  and  final  war  of  the   British 

mP        i.«         .  — ,  r     !  !    1        1  ■■!  ■  in  .«■  .       ■   Empire,  II. 

series,  lor  since  its  close  r  ranee  has  never  been  able  to  rival  85-101 ; 

England  for  colonial  empire.      Jier  empire  was  everywhere  Payne, 

ruined.     In  America  the  English  attacked  the  French  posts  Co/omes> 

along  the  whole  line  and  with  success.     Montcalm  made  a  Bradley,' 

brave  defence,  but  Wolfe  purchased  Quebec  with  his  life  Wolfe  (Mac- 

and  thus  forced  the  surrender  of  Montreal  and  all  Canada,  oid^outh 

At  the  end  of  the  war  France  withdrew  entirely  from  North  73. 

America,  ceding  her  western  possessions  to  Spain,  and  her  Parkman, 
northern  to  England.                                                                  **  Montcalm, 

In  India  Lally-Tollendal  made  a  vigorous  defence  but  ap* 

with  no  better  success.    He  was  obliged  at  last  to  surrender.  up^ncLf 1VeS 
Clive  won  the  great  victory  of  Plassy,  which  carried  with 
it  the  conquest  of  almost  all  Bengal.     And  at  the  peace, 
France  gave  up  everything  but  five  trading-stations  which 
she  promised  not  to  fortify. 

England  also  made  important  gains  in  the  West  Indies 


420 


Struggle  for  Colonial  Empire 


[§418 


ii. 


The  ministry 
of  William 
Pitt. 
Lecky, 
England, 

555-565 ; 

Green, 
English 
People,  IV. 
176  ff. 


The 

American 
colonies  less 
dependent 
on  England. 
Lecky, 
England, 
III.  290-333; 
Green, 
English 
People,  IV. 
187-200. 


France 
rejoices  in 
the  prospect 
of  revenge. 


and  in  Africa.  It  was  a  great  war,  the  most  brilliant  in  the 
modern  history  of  England.  A  national  enthusiasm  was 
aroused  again  as  under  Elizabeth.  Robert  Walpole  wrote  : 
"  We  need  to  enquire  every  morning  what  new  victory  there 
has  been,  lest  any  escape  us."  These  great  successes  had 
been  won  for  England  not  merely  by  the  generals  in  the 
field,  but  largely  by  the  energy  which  a  great  minister, 
William  Pitt,  afterwards  earl  of  Chatham,  infused  into  the 
administration  at  home.  He  was  not  able,  however,  to 
make  his  influence  felt  at  the  conclusion  of  the  peace,  for 
he  had  lost  office  on  the  accession  of  George  III.  in  1760, 
because  of  the  king's  alliance  with  the  Tory  party. 

418.  The  Ultimate  Consequences  of  this  War.  —  This  great 
war  involved,  however,  in  the  course  of  a  few  years,  further 
consequences  which  went  far  to  balance,  looked  at  in  one 
way  at  least,  all  the  gains  which  had  been  won  by  it  at  first. 
In  the  first  place  the  conquest  of  Canada  removed  from  the 
great  American  colonies  the  constant  danger  which  had 
made  them  closely  dependent  upon  the  aid  of  England. 
They  had  long  been  left  to  manage  their  own  affairs  with 
ely  any  interference  from  the  mother  country,  and 
these  affairs  had  now  become  equal  in  importance  to  those 
of  the  smaller  states  of  Europe.  They  had  lately  grown 
accustomed  to  raise  and  direct  military  ^"^T-prififift  nf  rr>P^_ 
siderable  extent  from  their  own  resources  and  with  their 
own  officers.  There  had  been  good  training-schools  for 
both  the  statesman  and  the  soldier.  jliS-Qnly  what  might 
be  expected  that,  without  an  enemy  to  be  feared  upon  the 
continent  the  colonists  should  decide  for  independence 
upon  the  first  serious  difficulty  with  the  home  government. 

At  the  close  of  the  war  some  of  the  French  statesmen  had 
realized  this  great  change  which  had  been  made  in  the  situa- 
tion of  the  Thirteen  Colonies  by  the  transfer  of  Canada  to 
England  and  the  probable  consequences,  and  had  rejoiced  at 
the  prospect  of  revenge  in  the  not  distant  future  at  the  hands 
of  England's  own  colonies. 

In  the  second   place   the  war   immediately  created   the 


George  Washington 


§  4r9]  English  Colonies  to  be  taxed  421 

difficulty.     The  enormous  cost  of  the  war  gave  rise  to  an   The  questic 
extremely  difficult  question,  so  difficult  indeed  that  England   ofthe 
after  more  than  a  hundred  years  has  not  found  any  answer  defence.  C 
to  it.     This  is  the  question  of  the  way  in  which  the  expense  Am.  Hist, 
of  defending  the  Empire  ought  to  be  divided  between  the   Leaf--  2I' 
mother   country    and   the    colonies.      In    1763    it   was   an 
'entirely  new   question.      It  had  never   risen  before  in  the 
history  of  the  world.      Neither  the  English  government  nor 
the  colonies  had  any  experience  to  guide  them  in  the  diffi- 
culty.   It  ought  not  to  be  surprising  that  the  wrong  thing  was 
done,  perhaps  on  both  sides. 

419.    The  English  Ministry  determines  to  tax  the  Colonies.   The  case  fo 
—  The  English  government  determined  to  lay  taxes  upon   En§land- 
the  colonies  by  act  of  Parliament.      The  colonies,  on  the   Burke's 
principle  that  they  could  only  be  taxed  by  their  own  repre- 
sentatives, determined  to  resist  the  collection  of  these  taxes 
by  a  war  of  independence  if  necessary.     So  far  as  the  strict 
letter  of  the  law  is  concerned  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
the  English  government  was  within  its  rights.     The  colonies 
were  in  every  particular  subject  to  the  laws  made  in  Parlia- 
ment.   Repeatedly,  in  the  past,  Parliament  had  passed  as 
oppressive  laws  as  these,  with  special  reference  to  the  col- 
onies, and  they  had  been  submitted  to.     The  cabinet  of 
George  III.  had  reason  to  believe  that  these  new  measures 
might  be  successfully  carried  through. 

On  the  other  hand  there  can  be  just  as  little  doubt  that,   The  case  fc 
not  merely  the  attempt  at  taxation,  but  the  whole  practice   the  colonle; 
of  governing  great  communities  of  Englishmen  by  a  distant    warofind 
parliament  in  which  they  had  no  voice,  was  in  violation  of  pendence 
the  spirit  and  fundamental  principles  of  the  English  consti-    (Houghton 
tution.     England  came   during   the   nineteenth   century  to 
admit  this  in  practice  with  the  great  colonies  of  that  time, 
but  this  was  not  until  long  after  the  American  Revolution, 
and  was  due  to  the  rise  of  new  influences.     The  colonies . 
were   right  in  the  general  position  which   they  tookf  and 
England  ought  to  have  seen  it  and  to  have  realized  that  the 
colonists  were   still   Englishmen.      It  was  only  a  hundred 


422 


Struggle  for  Colonial  Empire     [§§420-42i 


Compromise 
the  proper 
settlement. 


Royal  and 

party 

obstinacy. 


Many 
motives  at 
work  in  the 
colonies. 


The  colonies 
declare  their 
indepen- 
dence. 
Woodburn's 
Lecky's 
American 
Revolution 
(Appleton). 


years  before  that  she  had  gone  through  revolution  and  civil 
war  to  secure  these  principles  for  all  her  citizens. 

420.  Compromise  not  possible. — Thus  was  ji  question  for 
compromise,  for  the  calm  and  careful  comparison  of  the  two 
positions.  If  this  could  have  been  done  the  result  would 
have  been  very  different.  But  it  was  impossible.  There 
were  reasons  on  both  sides  which  shut  up  this  way  out  of 
the  difficulty. 

On  the  English  side  it  was  very  unfortunate  that  the  man- 
agement of  this  crisis  fell  to  the  hands  of  George  III.  and 
a  Tory  ministry.  Not  that  the  Tories  were  entirely  respon- 
sible for  the  attempt.  These  measures  had  been  fore- 
shadowed by  Whig  ministers  and  would  undoubtedly  have 
been  tried  by  a  Whig  cabinet.  But  the  Whigs  would  have 
been  more  ready  to  yield  and  to  oppose  the  king.  The 
Tories  were  on  principle  opposed  to  such  concessions,  and 
they  held  office  largely  by  their  compliance  with  the  obsti- 
nacy of  the  king.  In  the  second  place  there  was  in  the 
Parliament  and  the  government  so  little  understanding  of 
the  actual  situation  in  the  colonies  that  the  danger  of  push- 
ing things  to  an  extreme  was  not  appreciated. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  probable  that  there  were  other 
motives  in  the  colonies  for  pushing  the  dispute  on  to  inde- 
pendence than  appeared  on  the  surface.  Perhaps  those 
which  have  been  suggested  by  English  historians,  local  pride, 
personal  ambition,  and  the  influence  of  fiery  oratory,  were 
less  effective  than  the  willingness  of  a  community  heavily  in 
debt  to  another  to  try  what  relief  might  be  found  in  the 
issue  of  war.  At  any  rate  the  spirit  of  concession  was  no 
more  active  in  America  than  in  England. 

421.  The  War  of  the  Revolution.  —  In  a  situation  of  this 
sort,  the  quarrel  soon  became  bloody.  Battles  were  fought, 
and  on  July  4th,  1776,  came  the  Declaration  of  Indepen- 
dence. Tn  the  war  the  apparent  odds  were  all  against  _tKe' 
Americans,  but  England  was  undertaking  the  impossible 
task  of  keeping  down  a  whole  population  by  military  force. 
The  Americans  lost  New  York  and   Philadelphia,  but  they 


§  422]         The  Empire  apparently  broken  up  423 

gained  a  great  success  in  forcing  the  surrender  of  Burgoyne 
at  Saratoga.  This  was  soon  followed  by  the  alliance  with 
France,  which  was  anxious  to  take  vengeance  for  its  misfor- 
tunes in  the  past.  Not  long  after,  Spain  and  Holland,  joined 
the  war  against  their  old  commercial  enemy. 

These  events  greatly  changed  the  character  of  the  conflict.  The  revolt 
for  England.     It  now  became  a  war  not  merely  to  preserve  .thirteen 
the  Thirteen  Colonies,  but  to  preserve  the  whole  Empire.   Colonies 
It  was  fought  in  every  quarter  of  the  globe,  especially  in  becomes  a 

LU-^tJUM^  &  #C  p*A^,«*A-  <rf  hospfrimUJJ,   /&*£  to  joousrc-  tKt^^Lda t  y, 
•v-crrvrra^Xa  os*~c  <^aUA^JUJL  a^y^emj  -n^jt^x. ,  cU^~uu-ur^  Hue** ^^  p-0™*0^  frOtrx 

-tfy.tt   b-ccerrju  rUdly^tZt^t,  <rt  Ajt#*e^,  Jt  vo  frW  -rvj/k*  <fy  %*.  fr^op^i  to  cXic 
0*  to  edro&*A    ot,    #  ttr  V** \*£"M-  •»\^w  c^-v-*/T>»/irv^v^ ,   icujyrxf  jt'j  Jrn^t^-<xXi<>-ry  trrs. 

JvuA*.  rrrvoTUAjrCtJ   ir  e-r-titmto^  t^ru  JL  */ pirus~o>r3  un.  *ju*/h  prrm   (j^  Co   frier*  j/L*/£, 
JUns    irurrC  LkJL  to    <ffi>c£  j&U*  J*4*&J  &  r\\*ppXsr*tJ .        pyxM^r^u,  urUtocL 
urdi  dUoUM*  /W  C^w^-rv^rv^rvfc'  Cm*  e^^wW  ^koxt£ot  ru/t  IK.  cAzurxJ^Q  f<r> 

The  Declaration  of  Independence 

Facsimile  (reduced)  of  the  first  lines  of  Jefferson's  original  draft 

India,  the  Mediterranean,  and  the  West  Indies.     The  bal-  world  war. 
ance  of  defeat  ana  victory  was  about  evenly  dividecL    TKe  Hassal,> 

«     -     .     ■  !■  .      d"  '  '"'ii  e     "~~        Periods, 

French  had  the  experience,  not  recent  with  them,  ofsome  chap.  xn. 
naval  victories.     SurTren  won  a  series  of  brilliant  successes 

in  India.     Cornwallis  was  forced  to  surrender  at  Yorktown.  Mahan' 

On  the  other  hand,  De  Grasse  was  beaten  in  the  West  Indies,  Sea  Power, 

and  a  combined  French  and  Spanish  fleet  near  Gibraltar.  Chap-  XI1, 

422.  The  English  Empire  apparently  broken  up.  —  At  the  England 

peace  in  1 783,  England  recognized  the  independence  of  the  glves  up 


424 


Struggle  for  Colonial  Empire 


[§423 


many 

possessions. 
Lecky, 

England,  IV. 
274-289. 


No  commer- 
cial loss. 


Loss  of 
Empire 
stimulates  its 
growth. 


Ill-feeling 
between 
America  and 
England. 

See  Green, 
English 
People,  IV. 
266-271. 


United  States,  and  thus  lost  her  greatest  colonies,  and  the 
only  ones  she  had  atjhat  time  in  which  a  new  English  nation 
was  growing  up.  In  Africa,  France  recovered  Senegal,  and 
in  the  West  Indies  two  islands.  To  Spain  was  given  back 
Florida,  and  in  the  Mediterranean  Minorca,  but  she  failed 
in  the  great  effort  which  she  made  to  regain  possession  of 
Gibraltar.  In  India  nothing  was  lost.  So  far  as  the  French 
were  concerned,  things  remained  as  they  were,  but  the  Eng- 
lish Empire  was  rapidly  advancing  under  the  vigorous  but 
unscrupulous  policy  of  Warren  Hastings. 

423.  The  Revenge  of  France  more  Apparent  than  Real. — 
The  revenge  which  France,  in  alliance  with  the  other  beaten 
colonial  rivals  of  England,  had  taken,  was  in  appearance 
complete.  But  in  reality  it  proved  to  be,  except  in  one  par- 
ticular, in  appearance  only.  In  commerce  England  lost 
nothing.  The  colonies  were  no  longer  compelled  by  law  to 
trade  with  her,  but  they  continued  to  do  so  from  interest, 
and  the  rapid  development  of  the  United  States  which  fol- 
lowed independence  had  its  effect  on  commerce,  so  that  in 
twenty  years  this  had  increased  to  undreamed  of  proportions. 

On  the  growth  of  Empire  also  the  revenge  of  France  b?^ 
an  opposite  effect  to  that  intended.  England  sought  com- 
pensation  for  rier  loss,  as  we  shall  see,  in  other  regions  which 
she  would  probably  have  long  left  unoccupied  if  she  had  still 
possessed  the  American  colonies.  The  United  States  also 
grew  into  a  nation  and  took  possession  of  the  great  West,  as 
it  most  likely  could  not  have  done  if  it  had  remained  under 
the  government  of  England.  The  Anglo-Saxon  Empire  in 
the  world  is  to-day  larger  and  stronger,  the  French  Empire 
is  smaller,  than  would  have  been  the  case  if  the  American 
colonies  had  not  become  independent. 

In  one  particular  the  results  were  not  so  fortunate.  The 
American  Revolution  split  the  Anglo-Saxon  Empire  into  two 
halves,  and,  with  other  events  which  followed,  taught  the 
people  of  the  two  parts  to  dislike  and  distrust  one  another. 
Fortunately  these  feelings  have  been  growing  weaker  of  late, 
and  more  natural  ones  have  begun  to  take  their  place,  and 


Topics  42  5 

we  may  perhaps  reasonably  hope  that  now  all  possibility  of 
danger  from  them,  which  might  sometime  make  the  revenge 
of  France  a  real  one,  is  happily  over. 


Topics 

The  first  colonial  powers.  Their  possessions.  How  differ  from  the 
English?  How  did  the  Dutch  Empire  begin?  Their  colonial  posses- 
sions. What  circumstances  like  the  Dutch  in  the  beginning  of  the 
English  Empire?  The  first  real  colonies.  The  Thirteen  Colonies. 
The  beginning  of  the  conflict  with  the  Dutch.  What  was  the  govern- 
ment policy  expressed  in  the  Navigation  Acts?  The  effect  of  Louis 
XIV.'s  wars  upon  Holland.  The  French  and  English  in  North 
America.  In  India.  What  advantages  had  the  English  in  America? 
The  French  in  India?  The  first  colonial  wars  with  France?  The 
third  war,  King  George's.  What  is  the  meaning  of  the  fact  that  the 
colonists  keep  up  the  war  during  the  interval  of  peace  in  Europe? 
What  gains  were  made  by  the  English  from  the  fourth  colonial  war? 
What  unfavorable  results  followed  it?  Give  both  sides  of  the  question 
of  taxation.  Why  not  compromise  ?  How  did  the  Revolution  become 
a  world  war?  The  losses  of  England.  Why  less  than  they  seemed? 
What  positive  advantages? 


Topics  for  Assigned  Studies 

Clive  wins  India.  Perkins,  Louis  XV.,  I.,  Chap.  X.  Lecky,  England, 
II.  541-550.     Story,  British  Empire,  II.  56  ff.     Macaulay's  essay. 

Englishmen  on  the  right  to  tax  the  colonies.  Lecky,  England,  III. 
333-361.  Green,  English  People,  IV.  225-240.  Story,  British 
Empire,  II.  1 28-140.  See  also  Burke's  and  Chatham's  contem- 
porary speeches,  in  many  editions. 

Compare  in  object,  spirit,  and  language,  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence (Old  South,  3);  the  Magna  Charta  (Old  South,  5); 
the  Petition  of  Right  (Old  South,  23;  Gardiner,  1);  and  the  Bill 
of  Rights  (Old  South,  19). 


426 


Struggle  for  Colonial  Empire 


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CHAPTER  V 


THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION  AND  NAPOLEON 


424.  The  Intellectual  Leadership  of  France.  —  During  the 
eighteenth  century  France  had  not  been  able  to  maintain 
her  leadership  in  the  international  politics  of  Europe,  and 
in  the  struggle  for  colonial  empire  she  had  been  defeated 
by  England ;  but  in  another  direction,  in  intellectual  influ- 
ence, and  in  the  preparation  of  the  nations  of  Europe  for 
the  next  great  stage  of  political  advancement,  through  revo- 
lution and  war  to  civil  liberty,  France  exercised  a  leader- 
ship which  is  a  compensation,  in  its  real  service  to  mankind, 
for  all  that  she  had  lost.  At  the  close  of  the  century  she 
led  again  in  the  revolution  itself.  And  in  the  wars  which 
followed,  with  enormous  loss  and  suffering,  though  with 
great  military  glory  which  is  dear  to  the  French  heart,  she 
opened  the  doors  of  all  the  continent  of  Europe  to  the  forms 
of  free  government  which  the  Anglo-Saxons  had  long  en- 
joyed. 

425.  The  Deists.  —  Near  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury there  arose  in  Europe  a  school  of  thinkers  who  are 
called  Deists  from  some  of  their  teachings  about  religion. 
Their  ideas  were  a  result  of  the  marvellous  scientific  advance 
of  the  seventeenth  century,  and  were  characterized,  like  the 
thinking  of  all  such  ages,  by  a  tendency  to  criticise  and  call 
in  question  many  old  beliefs.  Early  in  the  next  century 
several  French  members  of  this  school  began  to  criticise  the 
government  of  France.  It  was  at  a  time  when  the  selfish 
policy  of  Louis  XIV.  had  brought  such  misery  upon  the 
French  people,  when  a  corrupt  and  extravagant  government 

427 


France  leads 
Europe 
to  free 
government. 


A  school  of 
critical  and 
sceptical 
thinkers. 


428         The  French  Revolution  and  Napoleon      [§  426 


The  influ- 
ence of 
England. 


Montes- 
quieu. 
Lowell, 
Eve  of 
French 
Revolution 
(Houghton), 
126-153. 

Voltaire. 

Morley, 

Voltaire 

(Macmil- 

lan); 

Lowell, 

Eve,  51-69. 

Rousseau. 
Morley, 
Rousseau 
(Macmillan), 

The  abuses 
denounced 
were  very 
real. 
Adams, 
French 
Nation, 
Chap.  XV.; 
Penn.  IV., 
No.  5. 


seemed  to  be  forcing  the  nation  under  heavier  and  heavier 
burdens  at  home,  and  to  be  powerless  to  maintain  its  pres- 
tige abroad.  In  other  words,  it_was  a  time  wherjL_ahsoiiil£. 
government,  which  had  so  long  existed  in  France,  seemed 
to  have  failed,  or  at  least  when  it  should  be  forcedLtp.  defend 
itself  and  prove  its  right  to  further  existence. 

426.  Voltaire,  Montesquieu,  and  Rousseau. —  Two  of  the 
greatest  leaders  of  this  school,  Voltaire  and  Montesquieu, 
had  spent  some  time  in  England,  and  had  there  studied_the 
constitution  of  a  limited  monarchy,  and  observed  the  pros- 
perity and  freedom  from  oppresssive  exactions  and  galling 
caste  privileges  of  the  people.  What  they  had  learned  in 
this  way  enabled  them  not  merely  to  criticise  the  abuses  in 
France  more  sharply,  but  also  to  describe  the  kind  of  gov- 
ernment which  should  exist. 

This  was  especially  done  by  Montesquieu,  whose  praise  of 
the  English  constitution  had  a  great  influence  throughout 
Europe,  and  even  on  those  who  framed  the  government  of 
the  United  States.  Voltaire  obtained  a  reputation  and  an  al- 
most autocratic  authority  in  Europe,  such  as  have  hardly  been 
enjoyed  by  any  other  in  the  history  of  literature.  Rousseau. 
a  third  leader  of  the  same  school,  urged  a  return  to  nature 
in  education,  society,  and  government.  All  the  little  courts 
of  Germany  in  the  eighteenth  century  were  making  them- 
selves as  French  as  possible,  and  following  the  example  set 
by  Versailles  as  closely  as  they  could,  so  that  the  writings  of 
these  men  had  as  much  influence  in  Germany  as  in  France ; 
they  profoundly  affected  and  for  a  long  time  theories  of 
education  and  government. 

427.  Abuses  existing  in  France.  —  It  is  one  thing,  how- 
ever, to  influence  philosophical  theories  about  things  and 
quite  a  different  one  to  bring  about  an  actual  revolution  in 
the  State.  If  the  abuses  in  France  had  not  been  so  mon- 
strous and  so  plain  to  every  one,  these  writings  would  have 
had  no  such  effect.  They  were  often  exaggerated  and 
declamatory  ;  scarcely  one  of  them  is  a  permanent  part  of 
literature ;    and    in    their  zeal  against  superstition,    selfish- 


§427] 


Abuses  existing  i)i  France 


429 


ness,  and  corruption,  they  often  failed  to  distinguisli  between 
the  false  and  the  true.     But  the  abuses  were  |o,o  ff1*"1^ 

and  universal  to  be  denied,  when  these  writings  turned  the 

light  upon  them,  and  this  made  the  revolution  necessary. 

The  nation  was  practically  divided  into  two  classes,  the    The  privi- 

vileged  and  the  non-privileged.     To  the  first  everything   JeSf  of  the 

*^  higher 


pr 


seemed  to  be  given  and  of  them  nothing  demanded,  while   orders. 
the  second  class  had  to  meet  all  the  expenses.     The  privi- 


Versailles 


leged  orders  were  two,  the  clergy  and  the  nobles.     Xq  them  Taine, 
were  reserved  all  the  offices  in  the  court,  the  State  and  the   A™j™*e 
army.     Many  of  them  also  received  large  pensions  from  the    (Holt), 
public  treasury.  "  Two-thirds  of  all   the  land  belonged  to   13-85- 
them,  and  its  cultivators  paid  them  heavy  dues  besides  the 
'other  burdens  which  they  bore.     They  were  exempt,  legally 
oxJlkgally,  from  almost  all  the  State  taxes,  which  there- 
fore rested  with  greater  weight  than  was  just  on  the  other 
orders. 


430        The  French  Revolution  and  Napoleon      [§  428 


France  on 
the  verge  of 
bankruptcy. 
Lowell,  Eve, 
230-242. 


The  experi- 
ment of 
John  Law. 
Perkins, 
Regency, 
428-519; 
Adams, 
French 
Nation, 
237  ff. 


A  burden- 
some 
method 
Of  tax 
collecting. 
Taine, 
Ancient 
Regime, 

349-373 ! 
Lowell,  Eve, 
207-229. 


428.  The  Financial  Condition  of  France.  —  This  burden  of 
taxes  and  the  general  financial  condition  of  the  government 
was  one  of  the  most  decisive  causes  of  the  revolution. 
France  had  entered  the  century  heavily  in  debt  because  of 
the  wars  of  Louis  XIV.,  and  these  debts  had  constantly 
grown.  Salaries  and  pensions,  reckless  extravagance  at  the 
court,  the  cost  of  wars  which  were  of  frequent  occurrence 
through  the  whole  century,  these  kept  pushing  France 
nearer  and  nearer  to  bankruptcy. 

A  great  experiment  had  been  made  at  the  beginning  of 
the  reign  of  Louis  XV.,  under  the  Regency,  to  relieve  the 

treasury  by  the  issue  of  an 
irredeemable  paper  currency, 
under  the  direction  o£_  the 
Scotch  banker,  John  Law, 
but,  after  causing '  immense 
speculative  excitement  and 
making  and  destroying  great 
fortunes,  this  proved  a  false 
hope. 

The  burden  of  the  taxation 
was  greatly  increased  for  the 
people  by  the  method  of  its 
collection.  The  State  did 
not  collect  the  taxes  but  sold 
the  right  of  collection  to 
private  individuals,  the  reve- 
nue farmers,  who  took  pains 
to  make  themselves  rich  from 
their  contracts  by  forcing  the 
people  to  pay  much  larger  sums  than  the  treasury  received. 
The  well-to-do  in  each  community  were  made  responsible 
for  the.  taxes  of  the  less  frugal,  so  that  often  a  heavy  penalty 
was  placed  on  industry  and  saving.  In  some  parts  of 
France  the  peasantry  were  reduced  almost  to  the  condi- 
tion of  wild  beasts,  and  in  places  the  land  fell  back  into 
wilderness. 


Marie  Antoinette 


§§  4^9»  43°]      Failure  of  attempted  Reforms 


431 


429.  Attempts  at  Reform.  —  It  was  impossible  that  this 

condition  of  things  should  last,  but  there  were  only  two  ways 
out  of  it,  —  reform  by  the  government  as  it  existed  or  the 
overthrow  of  the  government  and  the  substitution  for  it  of 
"some  other  kind  of  a  government  which  should  be  able  to 
relieve  the  nation  of  its  burdens  and  of  their  causes.  The 
impossibility  of  securing  reformation  under  the  government 
of  the  king  led  to  the  opening  steps  of  the  revolution. 

This  was  not  until  the  alternative  of  bringing  about  a 
reformation  under  the  existing  government  had  been  tried. 
Louis  XV.  was  one  of  the  most  selfish  of  kings  that  ever 
reigned.  He  knew  that  the  State  seemed  to  be  drifting  to 
ruin,  but  he  said,  "  Let  those  that  come  after  me  look  out 
for  that."  No  change  was  possible  while  he  lived.  Louis 
XVI.  was  a  much  better  man,  but  he  was  too  weak  for  his 
rjlace.  He  could  not  resist  the  pressure  of  a  corrupt  court 
whose  privileges  were  threatened  by  any  reformation. 

Louis  promised  one  of  his  early  ministers,  Turgot,  who 
was  one  of  the  first  of  political  economists  and  "who  knew 
the  changes  which  should  be  made,  that  he  would  support 
him  in  his  reforms.  But  when  the  test  came  he  failed  to 
do  so  and  Turgot  had  to  give  up  his  ministry.  The  more 
moderate  reforms  of  Necker,  later  in  the  reign,  also  raised 
too  heavy  a  storm  for  the  king.  The  war  which  France 
made  to  aid  the  American  colonies  and  to  take  vengeance 
on  England  plunged  the  State  still  deeper  into  debt. 
Finally  in  despair,  after  trying  every  expedient  except  a 
genuine  reformation,  the  government  decided  to  call  to- 
gether the  representatives  of  the  nation,  the  Estates  General, 
to  see  if  they  could  suggest  any  way  out  of  the  difficulty. 

430.  The  Danger  of  calling  together  the  Estates  General. 
—  It  seems  to  us  now  as  if  the  privileged  orders  ought  to 
have  been  able  to  see  that  this  experiment  was  likely  to  be 
far  more  dangerous  to  them  than  even  the  reforms  of 
Turgot.  The  new  ideas  of  liberty  and  equality,  of  a  state 
of  nature  in  which  all  men  stood  on  the  same  level,  and 
of  the  right  of  the  people  as  a  whole  to  determine  what  the 


Revolution 
the  alterna- 
tive of 
failure. 
Adams, 
French 
Nation, 
250-257. 


The  kings 
were  greatly 
at  fault. 


The  reform 

ministers. 

Turgot. 

Correard, 

Textes, 

327-344- 
Penn.  V. 
No.  2. 
Necker. 


Revolution- 
ary ideas 
fashionable. 


432         The  French  Revolution  and  Napoleon     [§  43 ' 


The  Third 
Estate  has 
the  best  of 
leadership, 
May  5,  1789. 
Speeches  of 
Mirabeau. 
Stephens, 
Speeches,  I. 
47  and  55 ; 
and  Indiana, 
Mod.  Hist., 
No.  1. 

The  Third 

Estate 

demands 

union. 

Stephens, 

French 

Revolution, 

I.  S5-63- 


It  declares 
itself 
supreme, 
June  17. 


This  was 
revolution. 
See  Indiana, 
Mod.  Hist., 
No.  2. 


government  should  be,  were  now  the  prevailing  fashion 
and  had  won  many  adherents  even  among  the  nobles  and 
the  clergy.  It  was  almost  certain  that  an  attempt  would 
Be  made  in  the  Estates  General,  as  legally  standing  for  the 
whole  nation,  to  bring  the  government  under  the  control  of 
the  people  and  of  these  ideas. 

This  was  at  any  rate  exactly  what  did  happen.  When 
the  Estates  General  came  together,  it  was  found  that  certain 
of  the  nobles  like  Mirabeau,  and  of  the  clergy  like  Sieyes, 
filled  with  the  new  ideas,  had  had  themselves  elected  repre- 
sentatives of  the  Third  Estate,  or  non-privileged  order,  and 
they  at  once  took  the  leadership  of  its  policy.  To  _put  the 
people  into  power  two  things  must  be  done  :  the  other  two 
orders  must  be  forced  to  accept  the  leadership  of  the  Third 
Estate,  and  then  the  king  and  the  government  must  be 
made  subject  to  the  legislature. 

431.  The  Struggle  for  One  Chamber.  —  In  earlier  times 
the  Estates  General  had  met  as  three  separate  chambers 
each  estate  by  itself  and  each  having  a  single  vote.  Now 
the  Third  Estate,  which  had  a  small  majority  of  all  the 
deputies  elected,  demanded  that  they  should  meet  as  a 
single  chamber  in  which  each  deputy  should  have  a  vote. 
This  would  mean  that  the  privileged  orders  accepted  the 
leadership  of  the  Third  Estate,  and  very  naturally  they  refused. 

The  struggle  lasted  for  more  than  a  month,  the  Third 
Estate  refusing  to  allow  any  business  to  be  done.  Finally^ 
on  motion  of  Mirabeau  they  declared  themselves  the 
representatives  of  the  people  of  France,  and  on  motion 
of  Sieves  they  assumed  the  name  of  the  National  Assembly, 
and  the  power  to  regulate  the  taxation  without  the  consent 
of  the  other  estates. 

Such  action  was  of  course  revolutionary,  for  it  was  not 
sanctioned  by  the  old  constitution  of  France,  but  was  really 
in  violation  of  it.  It  brought  matters  to  a  crisis  at  once  and 
led  to  the  second  step  in  the  development  of  the  revolution, 
the  conflict  between  the  Third  Estate  and  the  king.  In 
reality  in  calling  together  the   Estates  General  at  all,  the 


§§432>433l     The  King  completely  Overcome  433 

king  had  practically  abandoned  the  theory  of  absolute 
monarchy,  as  held  by  Louis  XIV.,  that  the  king  determined 
everything  for  the  good  of  his  people  under  a  responsibility 
to  God,  but  not  to  the  nation.  But  the  king  and  the  court 
did  not  yet  recognize  this,  and  a  struggle  with  the  Assembly 
was  necessary  to  make  it  evident. 

432.  The  Struggle  with  the  King.  —  On  this  action  of  Louis  orders 
the  Third  Estate  the  king  determined  to  interfere  in  per-  thehouses 
son,  and  a  session  of  the  three  estates  was  held  at  which  he   separately, 
attended.      He  promised   that  in  the   future   taxes  should 

be  voted  by  the  representatives  of  the  nation,  but  he  ordered 
the  estates  to  meet  and  vote  separately,  and  to  take  up 
only  financial  questions. 

On  the  departure  of  the  king  the  Third  Estate  refused  to  The  Third 
adjourn  as  they  had  been  directed  to,  and  on  the  king's   Estate 

refuses  to 

master  of  ceremonies  repeating  the  order,  Mirabeau  cried  obey# 
out :  "  Tell  your  master  that  we  are  here  by  the  will  of  the 
people,  and  we  can  be  driven  out  only  by  the  bayonet." 
This  was  drawing  the  issue  sharply  between  the  people  and 
the  king,  but  Louis  did  not  accept  the  challenge.  He  passed 
over  the  refusal  of  the  Assembly  and  allowed  them  to  score 
the  first  point.  At  his  request,  indeed,  the  deputies  of  the 
other  estates  joined  the  Third,  and  their  first  victory  over 
him  was  thus  complete,  and  the  way  well  opened  for  the 
second. 

433.  The  King  completely  Overcome.  — ^Immediately  the  The  king 
National  Assembly,  going  on  in  the  way  of  revolution,  began   tnes 

to  take  measures  for  the  transformation  of  the  entire  con-   Stephens, 
stitution.     Then  the  king  made  up  his  mind  to  appeal  to   Periods, 
force,  and  troops  began  to  be  collected  near  Paris.    Necker,   SI~57' 
who  stood  in  the  popular  opinion  for  the  reform  party  in 
the   cabinet,  was  removed  from   his  ministry  and  exiled. 

These  rneasures  brought  to  the  front  at  once  the  most  The  first 
terrible   ally   of  the  Third    Estate,  the    mob  of  Paris, .to  ^gofthe 
whose  influence  the  bloody  excesses  of  the  revolution  were 
due.      This  mob  now  took  possession  of  Paris  amid   the 
greatest  excitement.      The  old  government  of  the  city  was 

2  F 


434        The  French  Revolution  and  Napoleon      [§  433 


July  14. 
Stephens, 
French 
Revolution, 
I.,  I3S-I4S. 


overthrown,  its  head  was  murdered,  and  a  new  revolutionary 
government  was  put  into  power.  A  city  militia  was  organ- 
ized, the  first  of  the  National  Guards.  The  Bastille,  symbol- 
izing to  the  mind  of  the  mob  the  tyranny  and  abuses  of  the 
old  regime,  was  stormed  and  its  commander  murdered  after 
surrender. 


The  Taking  of  the  Bastille 


The  king 
surrenders. 


Louis  yielded  at  once  to  the  storm.  He  promised  to  send 
away  the  troops  and  to  recall  Necker.  He  went  to  Paris 
and  was  received  with  wild  enthusiasm.  He  recognized 
the  new  mayor,  and  the  National  Guards  with  Lafayette 
as  their  commander,  and  put  on  the  tricolor  cockade. 
This  \yas  the  complete  surrender  of  the  king.  The  nobles 
who  were  most  bitterly  opposed  to  change  with  the  king's 


§§  434,  435]        Rise  of  Opposing  Parties 


435 


brother,  the  Comte  d'Artois,  at  their  head,  recognized  the 
fact  that  the  revolution  could  not  now  be  held  back  and 
fled  from  France,  the  first  of  the  emigres. 

434.  Revolution  Completed.  —  The  revolution  was  indeed 
in  full  tide,  and  its  progress  from  this  time  rapid.  The 
other  cities  set  up  citizen  governments  like  that  of  Paris. 
The  peasants  rose  and  sacked  the  castles  of  the  nobles  and 
destroyed  the  evidence  of  their  feudal  services.  Finally  on 
the  night  of  the  4th  of  August,  the  National  Assembly,  in  a 
session  of  intense  excitement,  swept  away  all  the  odious 
privileges  of  the  old  regime,  and  decreed  in  law  the  reign 
of  equality  in  France. 

The  making  of  a  new  constitution  was  not  so  easy  as  the 
destroying  of  the  old.  The  French  were  very  familiar  with 
philosophical  theories  of  government,  but  they  had  never 
had  any  actual  experience  in  making  constitutions  or  in 
governing  themselves,  and  they  had  all  this  to  learn.  It 
ought  not  to  surprise  us  that  they  did  not  succeed  very  well 
at  first.  It  was  not  until  September,  1791,  that  the  new 
constitution  was  finished  and  accepted  by  the  king. 

435.  The  Rise  of  Opposing  Parties.  —  Meantime  many 
events  of  importance  had  occurred.  In  October,  1789,  jthe 
king  and  his  family  had  been  forced  by  the  mob  to  leave 
Versailles  and  take  up  their  residence  in  Paris,  where  he 
would  be  more  directly  under  control.  On  the  first  anni- 
versary of  the  taking  of  the  Bastille,  a  striking  ceremony 
took  place  in  Paris  called  the  "  national  federation,"  at  which 
the  king,  the  Assembly,  the  officers  of  the  State,  the  National 
Guard,  now  organized  throughout  France,  and  the  people 
present,  took  a  solemn  oath  of  fidelity  to  the  nation  and  the 
law. 

Notwithstanding,  in  June,  1791,  the  king  attempted  to 
escape  from  Paris  with  his  family  and  to  reach  the  fron- 
tier, but  he  was  recognized  and  brought  back.  The  endow- 
ment lands  of  the  clergy  were  taken  possession  of  by  the 
Assembly  for  the  benefit  of  the  nation^and  the  Church  was 
reorganized  and  given  a  civil  constitution  as  a  department 


The  old 
regime 
destroyed. 
Penn.  I., 
No.S. 


A  new 

constitution. 

Stephens, 

French 

Revolution, 

I.  Chap.  IX.; 

Taine, 

French 

Revolution 

(Holt),  I., 

187-216. 

The  progress 
of  events. 


The  king 
tries  to 
escape. 


436        The  French  Revolution  cuid  Napoleon     [§  436 


Two  parties 
forming. 


Mirabeau. 


The  clubs. 


The 

Assembly 

dissolved. 


The  finances 
still  in 
disorder. 


The  seizure 
of  the 
Church 
lands. 


uf  the  Stale.  The  old  provinces  of  France  had  been  abol- 
ished and  the  country  dividegl  for  administrative  purposes 
into  new  divisions  called  departments. 

Before  the  new  constitution  was  finished  the  Assembly 
began  to  .divide  into  parties,  especially  into  two.jt  party  in 
favor  of  a  limited  monarchy  somewhat  after  the  English 
model,  and  a  party  in  favor  of  a  republic.  Robespierre 
was  a  leader  of  the  latter  and  Mirabeau  of  the  former, 
long  as  Mirabeau  lived  his  influence  was  very  strong  in  the 
Assembly,  and  the  constitution  adopted  embodied  many  of 
his  ideas.  His  death  on  April  2,  1 791,  was  a  great  loss  to 
the  moderate  party. 

The  clubs  organized  in  Paris,  at  whose  meetings  ques- 
tions of  government  were  debated,  often  in  a  purely  theo- 
retical way  and  sometimes  with  great  excitement,  began 
to  exercise  an  influence  on  the  people  and  on  the  Assembly. 
The  Jacobin  club,  at  first  moderate,  became  finally  more 
vigilant  under  the  lead  of  Robespierre.  That  of  the  Cor- 
deliers, led  by  Danton,  was  early  an  advocate  of  the  extreme 
revolution.  ( )n  the  flight  of  the  king,  the  republican  party 
attempted  to  establish  a  republic,  but  they  were  dispersed 
by  the  National  Guards  under  Lafayette.  This  was  the 
first  open  break  between  the  two  parties. 

436.  Financial  Difficulties  still  Continue.  —  On  the  adop- 
tion of  the  constitution  and  its  acceptance  by  the  king,  the 
Assembly,  which  had  been  called  in  1 789,  and  which  now 
called  itself  the  Constituent  Assembly,  was  dissolved  Sep- 
tember 30,  1 79 1. 

The  meeting  of  the  Estates  General  had  been  forced  upon 
the  king  by  the  impending  bankruptcy  of  the  State.  The 
representatives  of  the  people,  however,  showed  themselves  no 
more  able  to  find  a  wise  and  permanent  solution  of  this  diffi- 
culty than  had  the  absolute  government.  After  the  failure 
of  some  attempts  to  fill  the  treasury,  it  was  proposed  to  take 
possession  of  the  endowment  lands  of  the  Church.  These 
were  more  than  half  the  area  of  France,  and  their  value,  if  it 
could  be  realized,  would  relieve  the  government  of  its  pres- 


§437] 


Paper  Money  based  on  Land 


437 


ent  difficulties  and  make  some  provision  for  the  future.  It 
was  argued  that  these  lands  had  been  given  to  the  Church  in 
trust  by  the  nation,  to  provide  for  religious  services,  education 
and  charity ;  that  the  clergy  had  not  fulfilled  these  obliga- 
tions ;  that  instead  their  wealth  had  led  to  corruption  and 
scandal ;  and  that  in  consequence  the  nation  had  a  right  to 
resume  the  lands,  both  to  its  benefit  and  to  that  of  the 
Church,  it  was  .asserted.  The  vote  of  resumption  was 
passed  in  November,  1789,  and  the  lands  were  offered  for 
sale.  It  was  soon  found  that  sales  would  be  slow,  as  possi: 
ble  purchasers  feared  a  speedy  counter  revolution  and  the 
consequent  loss  of  their  whole  investment. 

437.  Paper  Money  based  on  Land.  —  In  December  it  was 
voted  to  try  a  most  attractive  plan.  Paper  money  was  to  be 
issued,  secured 
by  these  national 
lands,  and  thus 
their  value  be 
realized  for  the 
State.  In  theory 
this  seemed  a 
most  satisfactory 
arrangement. 
The  actual  value 
was  in  the  land 
behind  the  notes, 
which  would 
therefore  circu- 
late readily  and 

relieve  the  nation  of  its  embarrassments.  The  first  issue  was 
for  400,000,000  francs.  But  this  succeeded  so  well,  and  was 
so  easy  a  way  to  solve  problems  which  did  not  seem  to  admit 
of  any  other  solution,  that  one  issue  quickly  followed  another, 
with  the  inevitable  results. 

In  a  few  years  the  purchasing  power  of  the  paper  money, 
the  so-called  jissignats,  declined  to  one  four-hundredth  of 
its  face  value,  and  the  printing-presses  could  not  work  fast 


Stephens, 
French. 
Revolution, 
I.  297-303. 
Civil  consti- 
tution of  the 
clergy. 
Penn.  I., 
No.  5. 


Facsimile  of  an  Assignat  (reduced) 


438         The  French  Revolution  and  Napoleon     [§  438 


The  Legisla- 
tive Assem- 
bly, Oct.  i, 
1791. 


The 
Girondists. 


War  de- 
clared by 
France, 
Apr.  20, 
1792. 


Penn.  I., 
No.  5. 


The  war 
goes  against 
the  French. 


enough  to  supply  the  needs  of  the  government.  The  ex- 
periment only  postponed  the  real  solution  of  the  problem 
of  meeting  the  financial  needs  of  the  State,  and  still  further 
complicated  it.  Later  governments  had  to  devise  new 
measures,  and  these  included  at  least  a  partial  repudiation. 

438.  The  Beginning  of  a  Long  War.  —  From  this  date 
revolutionary  France  drifted  rapidly  into  a  war  with  Europe 
which  scarcely  ceased  until  the  battle  of  Waterloo.  A  new 
Assembly,  the  Legislative  Assembly,  met  the  day  after  the 
adjournment  of  the  Constituent.  It  was  composed  of  men 
without  experience,  for  the  old  deputies  had  forbidden  their 
own  reelection.  Its  control  was  at  first  in  the  hands  of  the 
constitutional  monarchists  and  moderate  republicans,  the 
party  of  the  Girondists,  but  the  extreme  republicans  were 
well  represented.  Outside  the  Assembly  their  influence  was 
rapidly  extending,  especially  through  the  aid  of  the  Jacobin 
and  its  affiliated  clubs. 

On  the  Rhine  frontier  of  France  the  emigres,  the  nobles 
who  had  abandoned  France,  were  collecting  and  organizing 
for  an  attempt  to  reverse  the  revolution.  The  republicans 
believed  that  the  king  and  the  court  sympathized  with  their 
plans  and  stood  ready  to  assist  them.  This  belief  seemed  to 
be  confirmed  by  the  rapid  veto  by  the  king  of  the  measures 
of  the  Assembly  against  the  emigres  and  for  the  national  de- 
fence. Austria  was  plainly  preparing  to  interfere  in  France 
against  the  revolution,  and  Prussia  had  formed  an  alliance 
with  her  for  the  same  purpose.  The  emperor,  Leopold  II., 
refused  any  explanation  of  his  preparations  or  of  his  relations 
with  the  emigres,  and  in  April,  1792,  the  Assembly  declared 
war  with  the  consent  of  the  king. 

439.  The  First  Step  towards  the  Republic.  —  The  war  at 
first  went  everywhere  against  the  French.  Enthusiasm  was 
a  poor  substitute  for  discipline  and  experience,  and  the  best 
officers  of  France  were  on  the  other  side.  The  people  of 
Paris  believed  that  the  successes  of  the  enemy  were  due  to 
the  treason  of  the  court,  and  a  moti-took  possession  of  the 
Tuileries  and  forced  the  king  to  a  new  declaration  of  his 
fidelity  to  the  nation. 


§  44°]  The  Republic  Proclaimed  439 

On  the  news  of  this  the  duke  of  Brunswick,  at  the  head  The  mob 
of  the  Prussian  army  which  was  advancing  on  Paris,  issued   forces  the 
his  famous  manifesto,  threatening  to  hold  the  citizens  of  0fthe  king< 
Paris  responsible  for  any  injury  to  the  royal  family.     This 
excited   the   mob   beyond   all    bounds.      The   palace   was 
stormed,  the  Swiss  guards  murdered,  and  the  king  forced 
to  take  refuge  in  fear  of  his  life  in  the  chamber  of  the 
Assembly.     The  mob  demanded  the  republic  at  once,  and 
the  Assembly  voted  the  suspension  of  the  king  from  all  his 
functions,  and  called  a  convention  to  decide  the  question  of 
the  form  of  government.      This  was  the   famous    10th   of 
August,  1792.     The  king  remained  a  prisoner  in  Paris  in 
the  Temple. 

440.   The  Republic  proclaimed  and  the  King  executed.  —  The  massa- 
The  commune  was  now  in  possession  of  the  capital  under  cres  of 
Robespierre,  Marat,  and  their  friends.     They  organized  its  Stephens"' 
defence  with  great  energy,  but  the  Prussians  continued  to   French 
advance,  and  to  gain  success  after  success.     It  seemed  as  if  Revoluhon> 
nothing  could  check  them,  and  the  mob,  in  an  insane  passion      '  4 
of  anger  at  the  supposed  royalist  traitors  who  were  aiding 
their  advance,  burst  open  the  prisons  and  massacred  more 
than  a  thousand  men  and  women,  on  the  2d  and  3d  of 
September.     But  within  a  few  days  the  French  army  gained 
an  advantage  over  the  Prussians  in  the  battle  of  Valmy,  and 
the  immediate  danger  was  past. 

On  the  next  day  after  this  battle,  the  Convention  unani-   The 

mously  declared  the  monarchy  abolished.     But  it  was  not   mona-rchy 
*—"""     -  1  '    •  1        1  1     '  •        Tii        abolished. 

so  easy  to  decide  what  to  do  next.     The  Girondists  had  a  Cariyle, 

majority  at  the  opening  of  the  Convention,  but  the  Jacobins,  French 

or  the  "  Mountain,"  had  a  larger  number  than  in  the  last  r^"J(f/<W' 

Assembly,  and  between  the  two  parties  was  the  "  Plain,"  or  Chaps.  VI. 

trie  "  Marsh  "  as  it  was  called  in  derision,  containing  a  large  and  VIL 

number  of  undecided  members,  whom  the  French  method  ^^ 

of  allowing  free  entry  into  the  galleries  of  the  mob  was  pierre's. 

likely  to  convert  to  the  side  of  the  extremists.  m^h' 

The  battle  of  Valmy  was  speedily  followed  by  other  sue-  No#  ^ 

cesses.     The  invaders  were  driven  out.     Belgium  was  occu- 


44°         The  French  Revolution  and  Napoleon      [§  44* 


French 
successes. 


The  king 
executed, 
Jan.  21, 
1793- 


Europe 
combines 
against  the 
revolution. 


A  stronger 

executive 

necessary. 


The  Reign 

of  Terror. 

Stephens, 

French 

Revolution, 

1 1.,  Chap.  X.; 

Carlyle, 

French 

Revolution, 

Bks.  VI.- 

VIII. 

A  speech  of 


pied,  annexed  to  France,  and  divided  into  departments. 
The  conquest  which  the  French  monarchy  had  been  striv- 
ing for  during  more  than  two  centuries  was  made  by  the 
republic  in  two  months.  This  was  followed  by  the  execu- 
tion of  the  king.  The  Girondists,  irresolute  before  the 
superior  energy  of  the  Jacobins,  yielded ;  Louis  was  put  on 
trial  before  the  Convention,  and  declared  guilty  of  high 
treason  by  almost  a  unanimous  vote,  and  finally  condemned 
to  death  by  a  small  majority. 

441.  War  against  All  Europe. —  The  execution  of  the 
king,  together  with  the  violation  of  international  law  which 
had  taken  place,  and  the  evident  intention  of  extensive  con- 
quest on  the  part  of  the  republic,  combined  all  Europe 
against  France.  War  existed  with  Austria  and  Prussia,  and 
on  the  1st  of  February,  1793,  it  was  declared  against  Eng- 
land, Holland,  Spain,  Naples,  and  Sardinia.  These  were 
great  odds,  and  the  first  results  were  disastrous  to  France. 
Belgium  was  lost,  and  the  enemy  everywhere  made  advances. 

These  disasters  led  to  a  step  which  resulted  finally  in  a 
change  of  government  in  France  and  prepared  the  way  for 
Napoleon.  The  first  Committee  of  Public  Safety  was  elected 
by  the  Convention,  and  soon  after,  the  second,  which  re- 
mained in  power  for  a  year.  The  object  of  this  step  was 
to  strengthen  the  executive  authority,  in  view  of  the  public 
danger,  and  to  avoid  a  divided  responsibility.  Its  power 
continued  to  increase,  as  was  inevitable  in  times  of  so  great 
confusion,  and  it  passed  in  the  end,  through  the  stages  of 
the  Directory  and  the  Consulate,  into  the  Empire. 

442.  The  Reign  of  Terror,  followed  by  Reorganization 
and  Success.  —  The  two  years  which  followed  the  election 
of  the  first  Committee  of  Public  Safety,  from  the  spring  of 
1793  to  that  of  1795,  were  fiNed  with  events  of  the  greatest 
importance  to  France  and  to  Europe.  In  the  Convention 
the  extremists  quickly  gained  the  upper  hand,  the  Girondists 
were  expelled,  the  Reign  of  Terror  began  and  raged  in  Paris 
and  throughout  France,  until  passion  was  exhausted  and  the 
leaders  of  all  parties  had  been  guillotined.     Then  the  more 


§§  443>  444]         Bonaparte  forces  Austria 


441 


moderate  recovered  power,  the  Girondists  were  recalled, 
and  Europe  became  aware  that  the  days  were  over  when 
the  French  were  resolved  to  revolutionize  all  the  world  at 
the  point  of  the  bayonet. 

On  the  frontiers  the  French  armies  had  been  made  over. 
New  officers  had  arisen,  and  the  men  had  been  brought 
under  strict  discipline.  Continuous  successes  were  the 
result.  Not  merely  was  Belgium  recovered,  but  Holland 
also  was  conquered,  and  though  not  annexed  to  France,  it 
was  transformed  into  the  Batavian  republic,  and  made  a 
close  ally.  Important  successes  were  also  gained  in  the 
south.  Some  of  the  states  of  Europe  were  now  ready  for 
peace,  and  in  the  spring  of  1793  the  number  of  the  enemies 
of  France  was  reduced.  But  England  and  Austria  remained 
in  the  field.  England's  successes  on  the  sea  had  been  very 
great  and  almost  all  the  French  and  Dutch  colonies  were  in 
her  hands. 

443.  The  Work  of  the  Convention.  —  In  1 795  the  Con- 
vention established  the  constitution  which  it  had  been 
elected  to  make,  called  the  constitution  of  the  year  III.  It 
vested  the  legislative  power  in  a  legislature  of  two  houses, 
and  the  executive  in  the  Directory  of  five  members  elected 
by  the  legislature,  one  going  out  of  office  each  year.  The 
legislative  work  of  the  Convention  in  other  directions  was 
of  great  importance.  It  established  a  uniformity  of  weights 
and  measures,  adopted  the  republican  calendar,  began  the 
formation  of  a  code  of  laws,  and  organized  with  great 
ability  a  new  system  of  national  education. 

444.  Bonaparte  forces  Austria  to  make  Peace.  — JTb.e 
new  government  had  the  war  against  England  and  Austria 
to  carry  on,  but  the  military  situation  of  France  was  now 
much  improved.  The  war  department  was  in  the  hands  of 
Carnot,  the  "  Organizer  of  Victory,"  who  conducted  it  with 
great  skill.  Bonaparte  had  also  risen  by  this  time  to  such 
a  military  reputation  that  the  conduct  of  the  war  in  Italy 
was  confided  to  him  over  older  and  more  experienced  gen- 
erals.    He  quickly  justified   the   confidence.     In  ten  days 


Dan  ton's. 
Stephens, 
Speeches,  II. 
265. 

Renewed 

military 

successes. 


The  new 

republican 

constitution. 


Bonaparte's 
first  cam- 
paign in 
Italy, 

I796-I797. 
Stephens, 
Periods, 

.173-193 1 

Morris, 
Napoleon, 
Chap.  II.; 
Fyffe, 


442         The  French  Revolution  and  Napoleon      [§  445 


Europe, 
Chap.  III. 


The  treaty  of 
Campo- 
Formio. 
Lanfrey, 
Napoleon  I. 
(Macmillan), 
I.,  Chap.  IX.; 
Penn.  II., 
No.  2. 


Lazare  Carnot 


The  way 
preparing  for 
the  Empire. 


he  forced  the  Sardinians  to  withdraw  from  the  war,  and  in 
six  weeks  he  had  defeated  the  Austrian  armies,  occupied 

Milan,  and  begun  to  levy  heavy 
contributions  from  the  Italian 
states.  New  armies  from  Aus- 
tria were  beaten  one  after  an- 
other, and  the  fortress  of  Mantua 
was  forced  to  surrender.  In 
March,  1 79  7,  Bonaparte  invaded 
Austria  itself,  and  in  a  month 
had  compelled  the  emperor  to 
sue  for  peace. 

The  war  was  closed  by  the 
treaty  of  Campo-Formio.  Aus- 
tria recognized  the  annexation 
of  Belgium,  the  extension  of 
France  to  the  Rhine,  and  the 
republics  in  alliance  with  France  which  had  been  formed 
in  Italy,  the  Ligurian  around  Genoa,  and  the  Cisalpine 
around  Milan.  Venice,  which  Bonaparte  had  seized,  was 
given  to  Austria  in  compensation,  and  was  retained  by  her 
until  late  in  the  nineteenth  century.  This  treaty  completed 
the  sanction  of  Europe  to  the  great  conquests  which  the 
republic  had  made.  England  alone  refused  to  be  a  party 
to  it. 

445.  Revolution  within  the  Revolution.  —  Before  the  re- 
turn of  Bonaparte  to  Paris,  a  series  of  coups  d'e^^ojj^yo^ 
lutionary  appeals  to  force  in  violatiou  of  the  constitution, 
but  designed  to  keep  in  power  the  party  which  had  made 
it,  had  been  begun  ;  and  these  prepared  the  way  by  clear 
precedents  for  Bonaparte's  arbitrary  assumption  of  power 
two  years  later.  The  first  of  these  was  against  the  mon- 
archical party  which  had  begun  to  recover  strength  in 
France.  By  the  aid  of  troops,  two  Directors  and  about  fifty 
deputies  were  expelled  from  office  and  new  elections  or- 
dered. A  second,  the  next  May,  was  against  the  Jacobins, 
who  were  beginning  to  acquire  a  majority  in  the  legislature. 


§§44^,447]     Strong  Government  Demanded  443 

446.  Bonaparte  in  Egypt.  —  A  few  days  later  Bonaparte  An  attack  on 
set  sail  for  Egypt,  to  restore  if  possible  the  French  suprem-  the  Empire 
acy  in  the  Orient  and  to  destroy  that  of  England.     By  the  I798!!f7^  ' 
conquest  of  Egypt  he  hoped  to  be  able  to  aid  the  insurrec-  Lanfrey, 
tion  of  Tippoo  Sahib  in  India,  and  to  injure  fatally  the  Eng-  f a^™  \ 
lish  power  there.     The  famous  battle  of  the  Pyramids  gave  and  XI.;" 
him  the  country,  and  he  a  little  later  beat  off  the  army  which  Morris, 

the  sultan  sent  against  him.  But  Nelson's  victory  in  the  cht^in 
battle  of  the  Nile  cut  off  his  communication  with  France, 
and  the  British  hold  of  India  proved  too  strong  to  be  shaken. 
In  the  meantime,  changes  in  France  seemed  to  open  a  brill- 
iant prospect  of  advancement  for  himself,  and  he  returned 
after  an  absence  of  a  year  and  a  half,  escaping  the  English 
cruisers  with  marvellous  good  fortune. 

447.  A  Strong  Government  Demanded.  —  On  every  hand  The  weak- 
in  France  the  strong  man  was  now  demanded,  and  the  only   ness  of  the 

1  ii  r-'i  tV  Directory. 

strong  man  in  whom  every  one  had  confidence  was  Bona- 
parte. The  Directory  was  unpopular  and  weak,  and  seemed 
able  to  govern  only  by  repeated  coups  d'etat.  Their  con- 
duct of  foreign  affairs,  as  arbitrary  and  unprincipled  as  that 
of  the  early  republic,  had  enabled  England  to  renew  the 
European  coalition  against  the  French,  and  the  war  was 
going  against  them,  especially  in  Italy,  where  a  skilful 
Russian  general,  Suvarov,  carried  all  before  him.  Steady. 
government  at  home,  better  generalship  abroad,  was  the 
desire  of  all. 

With  the  aid  of  one  of  the  Directors,  Sieyes,  who  had    Bonaparte 
kept  his  head  above  water  through  every  storm,  a  revolu-   Put  into 
tion    was    quickly   carried   through.      Troops    dispersed   a  r^Joiution 
part  of  the  legislature;  Consuls  were  put  in  the  place  of  the   Nov.  1799. 
Directors,    Bonaparte   among    them :    the    constitution  was   Stephens, 

;-./.'/.  •  1  - 1        /-.  1      Periods, 

revised  in  favor  of  a  stronger  executive,  and  the  Consuls   2IO-2i7; 
were  made  the  permanent  executive  with  Bonaparte  as  the   Fyffe, 

first  Consul  and  real  ruler  of  France,  a  position  which  he      uroPe> 

13^-144'. 

henceforth  held.    The  first  and  longest  step  had  been  taken  Morris, 
toward  the  making  of  a  new  absolute  government  in  France,  Napoleon.. 
as  unlimited  in  power  as  the  old  monarchy,  but  with  the  old    9-77" 


444         The  French  Revolution  and  Napoleon     \fi  448 


England 
even  con- 
sents to 
peace  with 
France. 
Stephens, 
Periods, 
217-225. 


The  Treaty 
of  Amiens, 
1802. 

Bonaparte's 
attempt  on 
Louisiana, 
1802. 


The  Three  Consuls 


feudal  distinctions  and  privileged  orders  swept  away.     That 
much  at  least  the  revolution  had  accomplished. 

448.  Bonaparte  turns  the  Tide  of  War.  —  Bonaparte 
quickly  restored  order  to  all  departments  of  the  government 

at  home,  and  victory  to  the 
French  arms  in  the  war. 
He  went  himself  to  Italy, 
gained  the  victory  of  Ma- 
rengo, and  drove  out  the 
Austrians.  Along  the  Dan- 
ube also  they  were  forced 
to  fall  back,  and  before 
the  close  of  the  year  1800 
to  make  peace  again,  with 
a  recognition  of  all  the 
French  conquests.  Rus- 
sia had  already  withdrawn 
from  the  coalition.  Eng- 
land again  remained  alone 
to  carry  on  the  war  a  year  or  two  longer.  But  England  and 
"France  were  hardly  within  striking  distance  of  one  another. 
England  had  no  armies  on  the  continent.  France  had  do 
fleets  on  the  sea.  Nelson's  attack  on  Copenhagen  prevented 
Bonaparte  from  securing  the  Danish  fleet.  ^ythe_en&_o£- 
1 80 1  both  parties  were  ready  to  end  the  useless  war,  and  the 
treaty  of  Amiens  was  made.  England  surrendered  nearly  all 
her  own  conquests  and  recognized  nearly  all  those  of  France. 

449.  The  Interval  of  Peace.  —  The  final  treaty  was  not  yet 
signed  when  Bonaparte  began  a  new  attempt  to  recover  the 
colonial  empire  of  France,  and  to  weaken  that  of  England, 
in  the  expedition  which  he  sent  to  recover  the  island  of  San 
Domingo,  which  had  revolted.  This  he  proposed  to  use  as 
a  base  of  operations  for  the  occupation  of  Louisiana  and  the 
restoration  of  French  power  in  North  America.  The  first 
step  failed  through  the  obstinate  resistance  of  the  revolted 
negroes  and  the  ravages  of  the  yellow  fever,  and  before  a 
second  could  be  taken  war  had  been  renewed  in  Europe. 


§45°] 


The   War  Renewed 


445 


In  the  interval,  the  organization  of  France  had  been 
carried  forward.  The  balance  was  established  between  the 
various  parties.  The  administrative  machinery  was  central- 
ized. The  codes  were  completed.  An  agreement  was  made 
with  the  pope,  and  the  Church  became  reconciled  to  the 
new  state  of  things.     The  constitution  was  twice  revised  in 


Constitu- 
tional 
changes. 
Lanfrey, 
Napoleon  I., 
II.,  Chap.  V. 
Morris, 


Napoleon 


the  interest  of  a  stronger  executive,  and  Bonaparte  was  made 
first  Consul  for  ten  years  and  then  for  life.  Everything  was 
so  arranged  that  a  little  later,  in  May,  1804,  the  Empire 
could  be  proclaimed  with  scarcely  a  change. 

450.  The  War  Renewed.  —  Neither  Napoleon  nor  Eng- 
land could  consider  the  peace  of  Amiens  as  much  more  than 
a  truce   and   the   war  began  again  in  the  spring  of  1803, 


Napoleon, 
Chap.  V. ; 
Stephens, 
Periods, 
237-241. 
Napoleon  at 
the  height  of 
his  power. 
Stephens, 


446         The  French  Revolution  and  Napoleon      [§  45 ' 


Periods, 
250-262 ; 
Blackmore, 
Spring-haven 
(novel). 

The  Roman 

emperor 

deposed. 

Schilling, 

Quellenbuch, 

33i; 
Bryce, 

Holy  Roman 

Umpire, 

359-368. 

The  map  of 
Europe  torn 
to  pieces. 

The  "  con- 
tinental 
system," 
1806. 

Penn.  II., 
No.  2. 


Joseph  made 
king  of 
Spain,  1808. 


JttYV. 

:oii- 


Austria's 

premature 

attempt. 

Maria 

Louisa. 

Sloane, 

Napoleon, 

III., 

Chap.  XX. 

The  exhaus- 
tion of 
France. 


through  the  fault  of  both.  Austria  and  Russia  also  took 
the  field  against  France,  but  with  the  usual  result.  Ulm  and 
Austerlitz  forced  Austria  to  retire.  Prussia  tried  to  take 
her  place,  but  lost  the  battle  of  Jena,  and  could  not  save 
Berlin.  Then  came  the  turn  of  Russia  which  finally  cc 
sented  to  the  peace  of  Tilsit. 

This  was  the  moment  of  Napoleon's  greatest  success.  All 
the  continent  was  at  his  feet.  Boundary  lines  in  every  direc- 
tion were  wiped  out  and  redrawn  where  he  pleased.  His- 
tory and  the  former  relations  of  territories  were  not  in  the 
least  regarded.  His  allies  took  what  they  wished  at  the 
expense  of  his  enemies.  Two  of  his  brothers  became  kings. 
France  was  further  enlarged,  and  the  European  Empire 
of  Rome  and  of  Charlemagne,  of  which  Charles  V.  had 
dreamed,  was  created.     But  England  would  not  submit. 

451.  Napoleon  stretches  his  Power  too  Far. — The_Jide 
was  now  about  to  turn.  The  change  began  through  two 
mistakes  of  Napoleon's,  whose  results  were  not  at  first  ap- 
parent. The  one  was  his  attempt  to  strike  at  England,  by 
shutting  out  her  goods  from  the  markets  of  the  continent  — 
his  "  continental  system,"  which  had  the  effect  to  excite 
against  him  much  discontent  and  opposition.  The  other 
was  his  attempt  to  make  his  brother  Joseph  king  of  Spain. 
This  brought  into  the  field  against  him  an  enemy  he  had 
never  met  before,  the  determined  spirit  of  a  nation  fn  de- 
fence of  its  independence,  and  it  opened  the  way  for  the 
celebrated  peninsula  campaign  of  Wellington,  which  weak- 
ened the  French  so  greatly. 

So  much  in  the  situation  seemed  encouraging  that  in 
1809  Austria  tried  the  experiment  of  war  again,  but  with 
no  better  success'  than  earlier.  Wagram  was  an  old  time 
Napoleonic  victory,  the  emperor  had  to  give  up  more  terri- 
tory, and  to  allow  his  daughter,  Maria  Louisa,  to  become 
Napoleon's  wife,  in  the  place  of  Josephine  whom  he  dis- 
carded. 

452 .  The  Beginning  of  the  End.  —  But  these  continuous 
wars,  if  they  seemed  to  leave  Napoleon  still  the  Dictator  of 


rank  fort 

Emm 


A     ^«S 


&^fe^0\u^:>./^v«^or,'4:  t  Li-Els' 


S»  Cloud 


0  1  Tro* 


Clermont  i 


A? 


/0  I.on:iitu-tt 


CENTRAL  EUROPE 

About  1812 

SHOWING  BATTLE  FIELDS  FROM  1792 

SCALE  OF  MILES 
0        25       50  100  150  200 


Sormav  &  Co.,tf., 


§§  453?  454] 


The  Charter  of  1814 


447 


Europe,  were  steadily  exhausting  the  resources  of  France, 
especially  in  men,  and  it  was  becoming  more  and  more 
difficiuVto  keep  the  quality  of  the  armies  up  to  the  level  of 
those  that  had  won  the  earlier  successes.  In  northern  Ger- 
Inanyalso  a  great  revolution  was  taking  place,  under  the 
lead  of  Prussia,  reforms  in  all  department  of  the  State,  and 
the  growth  of  that  sort  of  national  feeling  which  had  proved 
so  difficult  to  deal  with  in  Spain. 

Napoleon,  however,  did  not  seem  to  realize  that  the 
foundations  of  his  power  were  weakening.  When  Russia 
became  unwilling  any  longer  to  adhere  to  the  continental 
system  and  began  to  draw  towards  England,  he  resolved  to 
treat  her  as  he  had  the  rest  of  Europe,  and  set  out  in  May, 
18 1 2,  on  the  invasion  which  led  to  his  fall.  At  first  he  was 
as  successful  as  ever.  He  drove  back  the  Russian  armies 
and  entered  Moscow.  But  this  was  the  limit.  The.  Rus- 
sians burned  him  out  and  forced  him  to  retreat.  Then  his 
army  began  to  melt  away  before  the  winter  storms  and  the 
swift  attacks  of  the  Cossacks.  Prussia  believed  the  time  had 
now  come  and  rose  against  him,  better  prepared  than  ever 
before.  Austria  quickly  followed.  At  Leipzig  in  one  of  the 
greatest  battles  of  these  wars,  often  called  the  battle  of  the 
nations,  his  army  was  almost  totally  destroyed. 

453.  The  First  Restoration.  —  Napoleon  was  now  obliged 
to  cross  to  the  French  side  of  the  Rhine.  The  terrible 
losses  which  his  armies  had  suffered  he  could  not  make 
good.  His  genius  was  as  great  as  ever,  but  he  had  no 
longer  the  same  material  to  work  with.  Steadily  he  was 
pushed  back,  and  in  the  spring  of  18 14  his  enemies  entered 
Paris.  The  Bourbons  were  restored  in  the  person  of  Louis 
XVIII.,  brother  of  Louis  XVI.,  but  the  old  absolute  monarchy 
was  not  restored.  The  new  king  promised  to  reign  as  a 
constitution  monarch.  Napoleon  was  sent  to  the  island  of 
Elba,  between  Corsica  and  Italy,  where  he  was  kept  in  honor- 
able confinement,  retaining  his  title  of  emperor. 

454.  The  Charter  of  1 814. —  Louis  XVIII.  began  his 
reign  with  many  indications  of  the  Bourbon  spirit.     He  put 


The  awaken- 
ing of 
Prussia. 
Penn.  II., 
No.  2. 


The  invas- 
ion of 
Russia. 
Morris, 
Napoleon, 

■2j2>-2%6  > 
Tolstoi, 
War  and 
Peace, 
Pt.  III. 
(novel). 


Europe  rises 

against 

Napoleon. 

Morris, 

Napoleon, 

Chaps.  XI. 

and  XII.; 

map, 

Putzger, 

No.  29. 

Napoleon 
sent  to  the 
island  of 
Elba,  18 14. 


448        The  French  Revolution  and  Napoleon     [§  455 


Louis 

XVIII.  king 
by  divine 
right. 
Fyffe, 
Europe, 
368-380. 
The  Charter 
in  Penn.  I., 
No.  3. 


What  the 

revolution 

had 

permanently 

secured. 


A  new  map 
of  Europe  to 
be  made. 


Discontent 
in  France. 


aside  the  constitution  suggested  by  the  Senate.  He  claimed 
the  constitution-making  power  for  himself.  He  would  grant 
a  constitution  to  his  people.  Shortly  afterwards  he  issued  it, 
the  so-called  Charter  of  18 14.  In  this  he  called  himself 
king  "  by  the  grace  of  God,"  and  dated  it  from  the  nine- 
teenth year  of  his  reign,  counting  from  the  death  of  Louis 
XVII.,  the  little  Dauphin  who  died  in  the  Temple  prison. 
It  was  made  very  evident  that  he  was  determined  to  be 
regarded  as  the  fountain  and  source  of  all  authority. 

But  the  work  of  the  revolution  could  not  be  set  aside. 
The  old  monarchy  was  impossible  even  for  a  Bourbon.  The 
representative  system  was  secured,  and  the  responsibility  of 
the  ministers  to  the  legislature.  All  Frenchmen  were  to  be 
equal  before  the  law,  in  taxation  and  in  eligibility  to  office. 
Private  property  as  transterred  by  the  reyoiution^nould  not 
be  disturbed.  The  right  of  suffrage  was  determined  by  a 
property  qualification.  The  constitution,  though  bestowed 
as  an  act  of  the  king's  good  grace,  was  not  an  illiberal  one. 
In  the  administrative  system  of  the  kingdom,  the  close 
centralization  which  had  been  devised  by  Bonaparte  was 
retained  and  has  become  apparently  permanent  in  France. 

455.  The  Congress  of  Vienna.  —  The  removal  of  Napo- 
leon and  the  restoration  of  the  Bourbons  were  not  the  only 
things  the  allies  had  to  do.  Napoleon  had  at  one  time  made  a 
map  of  Europe  to  suit  himself.  This  of  course  the  ministers 
of  Europe  could  not  allow  to  stand,  but  they  must  agree 
among  themselves  on  the  new  one,  and  such  an  agreement 
was  not  easy  to  reach.  One  thing  was  quickly  settled. 
France  was  to  be  set  back  to  the  boundaries  of  1792.  and 
this  was  determined  upon,  and  accepted  by  France,  a  few 
weeks  after  the  entry  of  the  allies  into  Paris.  A  diplomatic 
cj  >ngress  assembled  at  Vienna  to  settle  the  rest,  and  there 
the  allies  began  to  show  signs  of  quarrelling  over  the  spoils. 
News  of  this  was  carried  to  Napoleon  at  Elba. 

In  France,  also,  considerable  discontent  had  arisen  with 
the  new  government.  The  nation  began  to  fear  a  reaction- 
ary tendency  against  the  results  of  the  revolution,  and  not 


§§45^?  457]  The  Second  Restoration  449 

without  some  reason.  The  censorship  of  the  press  was  re- 
"  established!  The  officers  of  Napoleon  were  sent  into  retire- 
ment and  their  places  supplied  with  the  nobles  who  had 
fought  against  him.  Lands  confiscated  by  the  revolution, 
but  not  yet  sold,  were  restored  to  their  old  ei?iigre  owners. 
Napoleon  learned  of  this  feeling  in  France  also. 

456.  The  "Hundred  Days."  —  Suddenly  at  the  end  of   Napoleon's 
February,  18 15,  he  left  Elba,  landed  in  the  south  of  France,  return  to 
and  began  to  advance  towards  Paris.     Everywhere  he  was 

well  received.  His  old  soldiers  joined  him.  Officers  and 
troops  sent  to  arrest  him  went  over  to  his  side.  In  twenty 
days  the  king  had  fled  and  he  was  in  Paris.  Here  he  tried 
to  persuade  Europe  by  solemn  assurances  that  he  would  not 
renew  the  war,  and  the  French  people  by  issuing  a  constitu- 
tion supplementary  to  that  of  the  Empire  that  he  would  not 
renew  his  despotism.  Neither  attempt  entirely  succeeded. 
The  allies  certainly  could  not  allow  him  to  reestablish  his  rule 
and  prepare  in  peace  for  the  inevitable  attempt  to  recover 
the  lost  frontiers,  and  they  immediately  declared  war. 

One  great  battle  ended  the  war.  This  fell  to  the  English  Waterloo, 
and  the  Prussians.  Wellington  held  firmly  his  position  at  J"ne  l8» 
Waterloo  until  the  Prussians  came  up  and  Napoleon's  army 
was  totally  routed.  He  tried  to  secure  the  succession  of  his 
son  by  abdicating,  but  the  allies  restored  the  Bourbons  once 
more,  and  Napoleon  was  carried  by  the  English  to  the 
island  of  St.  Helena,  where  he  died  May  5,  1821. 

457.  The  Second  Restoration  and  the  Congress  of  Vienna.   Bourbon 
—  The  second  restoration  of  the  Bourbons  was  more  per-  reaction« 

jnanent  than  the  first,  but  they  had  learned  little  by  their  ex-  Democracy 

perience.     Louis  XVIII.  showed  the  same  characteristics  as  and 

before  the  return  of  Napoleon.  The  reaction  against  the  revo-  Monarc^ 

r  •  °  219-251. 

lution  grew  ever  stronger  until  it  led  to  another  revolution. 

The  Congress  of  Vienna  completed  its  work  in  1815.     A  The  work 

little  more  territory  was  taken  from  France  after  the  battle  °  *  e 

J  Congress. 

of  Waterloo.     Holland  was  made  a  kingdom  and  given  the  Stephens, 
Austrian  Netherlands  or  Belgium,  Switzerland  was  enlarged  Periods, 
and  its  neutrality  guaranteed.     Savoy  was  given  back  to  the  33   35°' 

2G 


450        The  French  Revolution  and  Napoleon     [§  458 


Fyffe, 
Europe, 
380-387  and 
411-418. 


Reaction  and 
absolutism 
only 
temporary. 


king  of  Sardinia,  and  the  Bourbons  restored  in  Naples  and 
Sicily.  Nearly  all  north  Italy,  Venice,  and  Lombardy  was 
put  under  the  rule  of  Austria,  which  retained  it  until  the 
formation  of  the  present  kingdom  of  Italy.  Prussia  received 
a  part  of  Saxony,  which  had  been  too  faithful  to  Napoleon, 
and  also  considerable  lands  in  the  Rhine  valley  taken  from 
the  small  German  states  of  a  former  time  and  from  France. 
England's  gains  were  colonial,  and  the  most  important  was 
the  Cape  Colony. 

458.  Results  of  the  Revolution  in  Europe  at  Large.  — 
The  diplomats  at  Vienna  could  treat  a  large  part  of  Europe 
as  if  they  were  the  absolute  owners  of  it,  disregarding  utterly 
the  feelings  of  the  inhabitants,  but  they  could  no  more  undo 
the  work  of  the  revolution  in  Europe  at  large  than  the  Bour- 
bons could  in  France.  The  way  had  been  made  open 
everywhere  for  constitutional  liberty,  and  if  it  did  not  at 
once  appear,  the  delay  was  only  temporary.  The  worst 
abuses  of  the  old  regime  had  disappeared.  Feudalism, 
serfdom,  and  insignificant  sovereignties  were  to  a  large 
extent  things  of  the  past.  A  new  national  spirit  had  been 
excited  in  countries  like  Germany,  which  had  long  been 
divided  into  fragments,  and  the  preparation  was  begun  for 
their  future  national  governments.  The  next  few  years 
might  be  characterized  by  reaction,  and  absolutism  seem 
to  triumph,  but  the  people  of  Europe  were  really  a  new 
people,  and  they  had  begun  to  cherish  the  spirit  of  liberty 
and  democracy  which  reigns  at  the  present  day. 


Topics 

The  compensation  of  France  for  her  political  decline  in  the  eighteenth 
century.  The  influence  of  England  on  French  thinkers.  The  leaders 
of  French  thought  and  their  ideas.  The  real  abuses  in  France.  Her 
financial  condition.  Why  were  not  reforms  carried  through?  The 
character  of  the  two  kings.  Why  was  the  Estates  General  called? 
Why  a  dangerous  experiment?  What  was  the  first  conflict  which 
introduced  the  revolution?  The  result  and  its  effect.  The  struggle 
with  the  king.     The  part  played  by  the  Paris  mob.    The  completion 


Topics 


451 


of  the  revolution.  The  formation  of  two  parties.  The  clubs.  What 
were  the  assignats?  Why  necessary?  How  secured?  The  result. 
The  beginning  of  European  war.  What  led  to  the  suspension,  and 
what  to  the  execution,  of  the  king.  Effect  on  Europe.  Change  in  the 
executive  government  in  France.  The  Reign  of  Terror.  The  military 
successes  of  the  Republic.  The  constitution  of  the  year  III.  Bona- 
parte in  Italy.  Gains  in  the  treaty  of  Campio-Formio.  Why  did 
Bonaparte  invade  Egypt?  Result.  How  did  he  gain  political  office 
in  France?  What  preparation  had  there  been  for  this  step?  The 
treaty  of  Amiens.  How  did  Bonaparte  use  the  interval  of  peace? 
The  great  successes  of  Napoleon  in  the  next  war.  How  did  he  treat 
Europe?  What  were  his  mistakes?  What  were  the  causes  and  the 
successive  steps  of  the  overthrow  of  Napoleon?  The  first  restoration. 
Character  of  the  Bourbon  constitution.  What  things  encouraged 
Napoleon  to  return  to  France?  How  was  he  received  by  France? 
By  Europe?  Waterloo.  The  new  map  made  by  the  Congress  of 
Vienna.     Permanent  results  of  the  revolution  in  France.     In  Europe. 

Topics  for  Assigned  Studies 

The  execution  of  Louis  XVI.     Stephens,  French  Revolution  (Scrib- 

ner),  II.  212-221.     Carlyle,  French  Revolution,  Book  IV.,  Chap. 

VIII.     A  speech  of  Robespierre's.     Stephens,  Speeches  of  French 

Revolution  (Clarendon),  II.  357.     In  French. 
The  battle  of  Waterloo.     Sloane,  Napoleon  (Century  Co.),  IV.,  Chap. 

XXIII.      Ropes,    Campaign   of   Waterloo.     (Scribner.)     Morris, 

Napoleon  (Heroes),  Chap.  XIII. 


Important  Dates  for  Review 


1 789.    May 

Estates  General  meet. 

1 791.    Sept. 

The  new  constitution  proclaimed 

1793.   Jan. 

Louis  XVI.  executed. 

June 

Reign  of  Terror  begins. 

1796      .     . 

Bonaparte  in  Italy. 

1798      .     . 

Bonaparte  in  Egypt. 

1799.    Nov. 

Bonaparte,  Consul. 

1802      .     . 

Treaty  of  Amiens. 

1804.    May 

Bonaparte  made  emperor. 

1806      .     . 

The  continental  system. 

1808      .     . 

Joseph,  king  of  Spain. 

1810.   Apr. 

Napoleon  marries  Maria  Louisa. 

1812      .     . 

Invasion  of  Russia. 

1813.   Oct. 

Battle  of  Leipzig. 

1814      .     . 

Napoleon  at  Elba. 

1815.    June 

Battle  of  Waterloo. 

CHAPTER   VI 

EUROPE   SINCE   1815 

Books  for  Reference  and  Further  Reading 

Fyffe,  History  of  Modern  Europe.     In  one  volume.     (Holt;   #2.75.) 
Miiller,  Political  History  of  Recent  Times.     (Harper;   $2.00.) 
Adams,  Democracy  and  Monarchy  in  France.     (Holt;  $2.50.) 
Andrews,    The  Historical  Development  of  Modern  Europe.     2  vols. 

(Putnam;    $5.00.)      Suggestive   and  instructive   commentary  for 

the  use  of  the  teacher. 
Seignobos,  Political  History  of  Modern  Europe.    Announced.     (Holt.) 
Holland,  The  European  Concert  in  the  Eastern   Question.      (Claren- 
don;  $3.75.)     Treaties  and  other  public  acts. 
Murdock,    The  Reconstruction  of  Europe.     (Houghton;  $2.00.)     On 

the  national  movement. 
Thayer,    The   Dawn   of  Italian    Independence,    1814-1849.     2   vols. 

(Houghton;   $400.) 
Lieber,    Civil  Liberty  and  Self  Government.     (Lippincott;    $315.) 

Interpretation  of  English  liberty,  especially  in  comparison  with 

French  ideas.     Contains  many  documents. 


The  inter- 
national 
system  be- 
ginning to 
embrace  the 
whole  world. 


459.  The  Nineteenth  Century  an  Age  of  Transition.  —  By 
the  year  18 15  the  world  of  international  politics  had  begun  to 
be  considerably  larger  than  the  continent  of  Europe,  and  it 
has  been  expanding  ever  since.  Very  soon  after  that  date 
the  United  States  began  to  make  her  voice  heard  in  the 
councils  of  the  nations.  England  had  become  even  earlier 
so  much  more  concerned  with  the  affairs  of  the  larger  world 
that  she  had  begun  to  consider  all  questions  of  European 
politics  from  their  bearing  on  her  wider  interests,  as  she  still 
does.  Other  nations  have  become  by  degrees  interested  in 
the  same  way,  and  new  nations,  once  unthought  of  and 
lying  far  remote  from  Europe  and  its  local  questions,  like 

452 


§§  46o,  461]         The  Absolutist  Reaction 


453 


Japan,  have  entered  the  field  of  international  politics  and 
secured  immediate  and  strong  influence. 

The  nineteenth  century  is  in  this  respect  an  age  of  transi- 
tion. The  twentieth  century  will  before  its  close  have  ceased 
to  regard  the  local  balance  of  power  in  Europe,  or  the  minor 
details  of  its  interior  boundary  lines,  as  the  leading  questions 
of  international  diplomacy.  There  are,  however,  running 
through  the  whole  of  the  nineteenth  century,  certain  lines  of 
European  political  movement  which  are  of  decided  impor- 
tance in  the  history  of  the  world. 

460.  Three  Lines  of  Great  Political  Changes.  — Of  these 
lines  there  are  three  of  especial  interest,  which  can  be 
readily  traced,  and  whose  history  makes  up  in  large  part  the 
political  history  of  Europe.     They  are  : 

First :  The  continued  effects  of  the  French  revolution ; 
the  efforts  of  the  people  to  secure  a  larger  share  in  their 
governments,  and  of  the  sovereigns  to  prevent  this  ;  the  con- 
sequent revolutions  and  changes  of  government,  advancing  to 
the  result,  which  has  now  been  reached  almost  everywhere, 
of  the  triumph  of  liberal  government  and  of  the  democratic 
principle. 

Second  :  Closely  connected  with  the  first,  growing  largely 
from  the  same  causes,  and  greatly  aided  by  the  increasing 
influence  of  the  people  upon  their  governments,  the  move- 
ment to  secure  for  nations  long  broken  into  fragments  by 
the  arbitrary  dispositions  of  absolute  rulers,  a  political  unity 
whose  boundary  lines  should  correspond  to  the  territories 
occupied  by  the  nation,  and  whose  government  should  be  an 
expression  of  the  national  will.  This  has  resulted  in  a  very 
considerable  making  over  of  the  map  of  Europe  in  the 
interest  of  the  idea  of  nationality. 

Third :  The  Eastern  question,  occasioned  by  the  slow 
dissolution  of  the  Turkish  Empire  and  the  rivalry  of  several 
European  nations  for  the  inheritance.  An  essential  part  of 
this  is  the  enormous  expansion  of  Russia,  both  in  Europe 
and  Asia,  during  the  century. 

461.  The  Absolutist  Reaction. — The  first  results  which 


Local 
European 
politics  stil 
of  great 
interest. 


454 


Europe  since   1815 


[§462 


The  sover- 
eigns want 
no  constitu- 
tions. 
Fyffe, 
Europe, 
Chap.  XIII. 


The  Holy 

Alliance, 

1815. 

Muller, 

Recent 

Times,  2-5 ; 

Penn.  I., 

No.  3; 

Schilling, 

Quellenbuch, 

4°7- 


Metternich. 
Penn.  I., 
No.  3. 


The  univer- 
sities, and 
the  secret 
societies. 


followed  the  overthrow  of  Napoleon  by  the  allies  were 
disastrous  to  the  cause  of  free  government.  We  have  seen 
the  consequences  in  France,  where  the  restored  Bourbons 
had  granted  a  constitution,  but  where  the  whole  tendency 
was  towards  illiberal  government  and  the  limitation  of  the 
rights  of  the  people.  The  same  was  true  of  all  Europe, 
both  in  the  states  whose  rulers  had  been  compelled  to  grant 
constitutions  and  in  those  where  they  had  not  been.  The 
sovereigns  of  Europe  had  been  thoroughly  frightened  by  the 
revolution  and  they  did  not  propose  to  allow  it  to  proceed 
further. 

Three  months  after  the  battle  of  Waterloo  a  treaty  was 
signed  at  Paris  between  the  emperors  of  Russia  and  Austria 
and  the  king  of  Prussia.  Ostensibly  the  purpose  of  this 
alliance  was  to  make  the  precepts  of  the  Christian  religion 
prevail  everywhere,  in  the  relations  of  states  to  one  another 
and  of  governments  and  their  citizens.  On  this  account  it 
became  known  as  the  Holy  Alliance.  Whether  the  profes- 
sions originally  made  were  sincere  or  not,  the  Holy  Alliance 
came  very  soon  to  mean  an  agreement  between  the  sover- 
eigns to  interfere  in  any  state  which  was  threatened  with 
revolution,  and  to  force  the  people  to  submit  to  their  rulers. 
Count  Metternich  of  Austria  was  one  of  the  most  active  sup- 
porters of  the  policy  ;  he  possibly  gave  the  Holy  Alliance  this 
direction ;  and  the  arrangement  has  sometimes  been  called 
from  him  "  Metternich's  system."  Diplomatic  congresses 
were  held  at  frequent  intervals  to  carry  out  the  policy, 
almost  as  if  the  alliance  had  created  a  government  for  all 
Europe  with  a  regular  cabinet. 

462.  Revolutionary  Movements.  —  On  the  other  hand, 
the  people  did  not  propose  to  give  up  everything  without  a 
struggle.  In  Germany,  Italy,  and  Spain  the  movement 
against  absolutism  was  especially  active.  The  universities 
were  seats  of  vigorous  propaganda,  as  they  are  in  Russia 
to-day.  Secret  societies  were  organized,  the  Burschenschaft 
in  Germany,  the  Carbonari  in  Italy.  In  Germany  some  of 
the  sovereigns  thought  it  wise  to  yield  a  little.     The  king 


§  463]  The  Monroe  Doctrine  455 

of  Prussia  made  some  concessions.      In   Bavaria,  Baden, 

Wiirtemberg,  and  Weimar  constitutions  were  granted.     But 

repression  quickly  followed.     Agitators  were  punished  and 

the  universities  put  under  special  supervision. 

In  Italy  and  Spain  insurrections  took  place  and  armed  Armed 

intervention  was  necessary.     In  1820,  in  the  kingdoms  of  insurrec' 
_,         „.    ...  -i      r  r,      t    •  •  tions  put 

the  1  wo  Sicilies  and  of  Sardinia,  the  sovereigns  were  com-   down  by  the 
pelled  to  grant  constitutions.     At  the  Congress  of  Laybach   Holy 
the  next  year,  Austria  was  authorized  to  deal  with  these   p^han<j.e" 
cases,  and   her   armies  overthrew  these  constitutions   and   No.  3. 
repressed  agitation  in  Lombardy.     The  same  result  followed 
in  Spain.     There  a  constitution  had  been  established  in 
181 2,  but  King  Ferdinand  VII.  had   taken  advantage  of 
later  events  to  get  rid  of  it.     In  1820  an  insurrection  of  a 
part  of  the  army  had  compelled  him  to  reestablish  this  con- 
stitution.    Then  the  Holy  Alliance  interfered.     The  Con- 
gress of  Verona,  in  1822,  commissioned  France  to  do  the 
work,  and  a  French  army  made  Ferdinand  VII.  a  despotic 
sovereign  again. 

463.     The  Monroe  Doctrine.  — The  action  of  the  Con-  The 
gress  of  Verona  in  regard  to  Spain  had  consequences  out-   sPamsh 
side  of  Europe  of  the  greatest  importance.     The  colonies  of  coionies 
Spain  in  South  and  Central  America  had  taken  advantage  of  independent, 
the  troubles  of  that  country  during  the  Napoleonic  wars  to 
declare  their  independence  and  to  establish  republican  gov- 
ernments of  their  own.     It  now  looked  as  if  the  interference 
of  the  Holy  Alliance  might  be  extended  so  far  as  to  attempt 
the  recovery  for  Spain  of  the  colonies  which  she  herself  had 
not  been  able  to  accomplish.     England,  which  had  favored 
the  independence  of  these  colonies,  was  opposed  to  such 
interference,  and  she  suggested  to  the  United  States  that  a 
declaration  to  the  same  effect  from  that  government  would 
aid  in  preventing  the  attempt. 

This  led  to  the  famous  Monroe  Doctrine,  which,  as  then  The  Monroe 
stated,  was  that  the  United  States  would  regard  any  attempt   Doctrine, 
of  the  allied  powers  to  extend  their  system  —  that  is,  the 
system  of  armed  interference  to  establish  a   government  op- 


456 


Europe  since   1815 


[§464 


Charles  X., 

1 824-1 830. 

Muller, 

Recent 

Times, 

96-101. 


The  revolu- 
tion of  1830. 
Fyffe, 
Europe, 
603-619 ; 
Muller, 
Recent 
Times, 
102- 1  ia. 


posed  to  the  will  of  the  people,  Metternich's  system  —  to 
any  part  of  these  continents  as  an  unfriendly  act. 

464.  Further  Reaction  and  a  New  Revolution  in  France. 
—  The  great  days  of  the  Holy  Alliance  ended  with  the 
death  of  the  Czar,  Alexander  I.,  in  1825,  but  the  opposition 
to  free  government  had  the  upper  hand  for  a  few  years 
longer.  In  France,  Louis  XVIII.  was  succeeded  in  1824  by 
his  brother  Charles  X.,  who  as  the  Count  of  Artois  had  been 
the  leader  of  the  emigres  and  who  seemed  incapable  of 
learning  anything  from  experience.  Under  him  reaction- 
ary measures  rapidly  followed  one  another.  More  of  Napo- 
leon's officers  were  dismissed  from  the  army.  The  National 
Guard  was  dissolved.  The  press  was  placed  under  stricter 
control.     The  Church  was  given  more  authority.     A  large 

sum  was  appropri- 
ated to  pay  the 
emigres  for  the 
lands  of  which  they 
had  been  deprived 
by  the  revolution. 
And  finally,  in  July, 
1830,  the  king  at- 
tempted a  coup 
d'etat.  He  issued 
a  series  of  ordi- 
nances by  which  he 
practically  made  a 
new  constitution  in 
the  interest  of  his 
own  ideas. 

Immediately 
Paris  broke  out  in 
insurrection.  The  troops  proved  untrustworthy.  Lafayette 
was  put  at  the  head  of  a  provisional  government.  The  king 
fled  and  abdicated  in  favor  of  his  grandson,  the  Comte  de 
Chambord,  but  instead  the  duke  of  Orleans,  Louis  Philippe, 
was  proclaimed  king  of  the   French.     He  was  descended 


Lafayette 


§§465,466]    Preparation  for  Another  Revolution      457 


from  a  brother  of  Louis  XIV. ;  his  family  had  long  professed 
liberal  ideas ;  he  was  himself  popular  with  the  people  and 
was  known  as  the  citizen  king.  The  constitution  was  imme- 
diately revised  to  secure  greater  freedom,  and  the  king  rec- 
ognized the  right  of  the  people  to  determine  for  themselves 
the  form  of  their  government. 

465.  The  Consequences  of  the  Revolution  in  France.  — 
The  July  revolution,  as  it  is  called,  encouraged  the  friends 
of  liberal  government  throughout  Europe,  but  the  time  was 
still  too  early  to  overthrow  the  strongly  intrenched  sover- 
eigns. An  insurrection  in  Belgium  against  the  continued 
rule  of  Holland  was  successful  and  the  two  states  were  sepa- 
rated. A  similar  one  in  Poland  against  Russia,  though 
bravely  fought,  was  a  failure,  and  resulted  in  the  loss  of  the 
constitution  which  had  been  secured  to  Poland  at  the  close 
of  the  Napoleonic  period,  and  its  reduction  to  a  province 
of  the  Russian  Empire.  Insurrections  in  Italy  were  for  a 
moment  successful,  but  the  Austrian  troops  proved  again 
too  strong.  In  Spain  and  Portugal,  however,  constitutions 
were  secured  within  a  few  years  of  the  July  revolution,  but 
this  was  due  not  to  revolutions  but  to  disputes  as  to  the 
succession  in  the  royal  families  which  forced  the  rightful 
claimants  to  rely  upon  the  liberal  party  for  success. 

It  had  proved  easy  to  suppress  insurrections  for  a  time  at 
least,  and  for  eighteen  years  longer  the  absolute  governments 
were  in  possession.  But  it  was  not  so  easy  to  suppress  liberal 
ideas,  and  the  longing  and  determination  of  the  people, 
and  these  were  making  steady  progress  through  these 
years.  In  the  new  revolution  which  was  to  advance  greatly 
the  realization  of  these  ideas,  France  was  still  as  before  the 
leader  of  the  nations. 

466.  Preparation  for  Another  Revolution.  —  The  reign  of 
Louis  Philippe  excited  no  enthusiasm  in  France.  It  was 
marked  abroad  by  a  policy  of  conciliation  and  concession 
which  was  not  flattering  to  French  pride,  and  at  home  by  a 
disposition  to  leave  the  constitution  as  it  was  formed  in 
1830  and  to  allow  no  extension  of  the  popular  influence. 


Unsuccessfu 
attempts  to 
follow  the 
example  of 
France. 
Fyffe, 
Europe, 
619-643 ; 
Miiller, 
Recent 
Times, 
1 12-143. 


Ideas  not 
easy  to 
suppress. 


458 


Europe  since   1815 


[§§  467,  468 


The  growth 
of  socialistic 
ideas. 


The 

"  February  " 

revolution. 

Adams, 

Democracy 

and 

Monarchy, 

Chap.  VII.; 

Fyffe, 

Europe, 

Chap.  XIX.; 

Miiller, 

Recent 

Times, 

186-192. 

The  attempt 
to  realize 
socialistic 
theories. 


But  the  demand  for  this  was  not  long  in  arising.  The  prop- 
erty qualification  required  for  the  suffrage  and  for  member- 
ship in  the  legislature  had  been  reduced  at  the  accession  of 
the  citizen  king,  but  they  were  still  so  high  as  to  place  the 
real  control  in  the  hands  of  a  minority  of  the  people. 
The  demand  for  an  extension  of  the  suffrage  was  made  by 
the  liberal  party  and  was  steadily  resisted  by  the  king. 

Meantime  the  artisan  class,  especially  in  Paris,  was  be- 
coming greatly  interested  in  economic  and  political  ques- 
tions. The  rapid  introduction  of  labor-saving  machinery, 
together  with  over-production  in  many  lines,  had  led  to  a  re- 
duction of  wages  and  had  even  thrown  many  workmen  out 
of  employment.  A  group  of  writers  of  much  ability  began 
to  propound  socialistic  and  communistic  theories,  and  in 
these  many  of  the  workmen  became  greatly  interested.  In 
this  way  was  prepared  a  party  which  in  the  next  revolution 
and  in  many  later  events  in  France  exercised  a  great  and 
sometimes  a  very  destructive  influence. 

467.  The  Revolution  of  1848. — The  revolution  came 
in  February,  1848.  The  signal  was  given  by  the  refusal 
of  the  government  to  allow  a  banquet  to  be  held  at 
which  the  liberal  party  proposed  to  advocate  the  exten- 
sion of  the  suffrage.  A  public  protest  of  the  liberal  leaders 
followed.  They  probably  did  not  intend  or  expect  a  revo- 
lution, but  events  rapidly  drifted  beyond  their  control.  The 
mob  took  charge.  The  king  showed  no  firmness  of  resis- 
tance and  abdicated.  But  the  people  of  Paris  organized 
a  provisional  government  and  the  Republic  was  proclaimed. 

468.  The  Second  Republic.  — This  was  a  very  short-lived 
republic,  but  it  is  interesting  for  one  experiment  which  it 
tried.  Among  the  theories  held  by  the  Parisian  artisans 
was  one  which  asserted  the  right  of  every  man  to  a  liveli- 
hood, and  the  duty  of  the  State  to  insure  him  the  means 
of  procuring  it.  The  provisional  government,  which  found 
it  necessary  to  satisfy  the  demands  of  the  workmen  who 
had  carried  through  the  revolution,  determined  to  fulfil  this 
duty. 


§  469]  Revolution  in  Austria  and  Italy 


459 


National  workshops  were  opened  and  the  unemployed 
were  guaranteed  labor  by  the  State.  Though  the  wages 
were  small  the  number  of  the  state  workmen  was  found  to 
increase  very  rapidly,  it  became  very  difficult  to  keep  them 
profitably  employed,  and  the  government  was  at  last  com- 
pelled to  lay  a  special  tax  to  meet  the  expenses,  much  to 
the  discontent  of  the  rest  of  the  nation.  The  experiment 
lasted  four  months.  Then  the  Constituent  Assembly,  which 
had  been  called  to  frame  a  new  government,  closed  the 
national  workshops.  The  workmen  immediately  rose  in 
insurrection,  and  for  four  days  fought  like  savages,  throwing 
aside  the  restraints  of  civilized  warfare,  before  they  were 
subdued.  The  bourgeois,  or  middle  class  of  Paris,  long 
remembered  the  terrible  experience  of  these  days,  and  the 
dread  of  the  communistic  spirit  was  one  of  the  things  which 
made  easy  the  way  of  Louis  Napoleon  and  sustained  the 
despotism  of  the  second  Empire. 

469.  Revolution  in  Austria  and  Italy.  —  With  the  tri- 
umph of  this  French  revolution  of  1848,  it  seemed  for 
a  moment  as  if  constitutional  government  and  political 
freedom  were  about  to  triumph  in  the  whole  of  Europe. 
Everywhere  the  people  rose  against  the  absolute  sovereigns, 
and  their  speedy  success  showed  the  depth  of  the  prepara- 
tion which  had  now  been  made.  Even  in  Vienna  the  revo- 
lution could  no  longer  be  suppressed.  A  popular  insurrection 
forced  Metternich  into  exile  early  in  March,  and  made  the 
emperor  call  a  constitutional  convention  elected  by  uni- 
versal suffrage.  When  a  little  later  he  attempted  to  with- 
draw these  concessions  he  was  himself  forced  to  leave 
Vienna,  and  abdicated  in  favor  of  his  nephew,  Francis 
Joseph. 

In  all  the  Austrian  dominions  similar  events  took  place, 
and  the  Empire  was  for  a  time  threatened  with  dissolution. 
Prague  expelled  the  Austrian  troops,  and  Bohemia  proposed 
to  secure  a  government  of  its  own.  Hungary  did  the  same 
and  soon  went  a  step  further,  declared  its  independence 
and  organized  a  republic  under  Kossuth. 


National 
workshops. 
Muller, 
Recent 
Times, 
192-196. 


Metternich 
and  the 
emperor 
driven  from 
Vienna. 
Leger, 
Austro- 
Hungary, 
Chaps.XXX. 
and  XXXII. 
See  Maurice, 
The  Revolu- 
tionary 
Movement  of 
1848-1849 
(London). 


460 


Europe  since   18 15 


[§47o 


In  Italy. 

Miiller, 

Recent 

Times, 

202-211; 

Fyffe, 

Europe, 

Chap.  XX. 


Italy  had  not  remained  behind  the  other  peoples. 
Indeed,  a  few  days  before  the  revolution  in  Paris,  the  king 
of  the  Two  Sicilies  had  been  compelled  to  grant  a  constitu- 
tion. In  Rome,  Pius  IX.,  who  had  been  lately  elected 
pope,  granted  a  constitution  in  March  and  seemed  to  give 
promise  of  a  liberal  disposition.  When,  however,  somewhat 
later  in  the  year,  he  withdrew  the  constitution,  the  people 
rose  again,  drove  him  out  of  the  city,  and  with  the  aid  of 


POPI   I'll  S  IX. 


The  house 
of  Savoy 
assumes  the 
lead  in  Italy. 


Mazzini  organized  a  republic.  Florence  did  the  same. 
Milan  and  Venice  expelled  the  Austrian  troops. 

This  was  the  opportunity  of  the  house  of  Savoy,  and  the 
way  in  which  it  was  used  prepared  for  them  the  throne 
of  a  united  Italy.  The  reigning  king  of  Sardinia,  Charles 
Albert,  put  himself  at  the  head  of  the  movement  for  national 
independence,  and  made  war  upon  the  Austrians,  at  first 
with  success,  and  Venice  and  Milan  accepted  his  rule. 

470.    Unsuccessful  Attempts  in  Germany.  —  In  Germany 


§47i] 


Suppression  of  the  Revolution 


461 


the  struggle  for  constitutional  liberty  was  closely  bound  up 
with  that  for  national  unity.  A  popular  movement  begin- 
ning in  Baden  demanded  civil  rights,  the  freedom  of  the 
press,  and  a  constitutional  government  for  the  whole  of 
Germany.  The  first  step  was  the  election  of  a  constituent 
assembly,  which  met  at  Frankfort,  in  May,  1848,  to  form 
a  government  and  a  constitution. 

Early  in  1849  the  crown  of  a  new  German  Empire  was 
offered  by  the  Assembly  to  Frederick  William  IV.  of  Prussia. 
This  proved  a  premature  realization  of  the  ambition  of  the 
Hohenzollern  family,  for  the  king  declined  the  offer,  believ- 
ing that  it  should  be  made  by  the  state  governments  of 
Germany.  Austria  and  some  of  the  other  larger  states 
refused  to  accept  the  constitution,  and  the  mission  of  the 
Assembly  finally  ended  in  failure.  In  Prussia  itself,  however, 
a  constitution  was  finally  secured,  with  a  representative 
assembly  of  a  limited  character. 

471.  The  Suppression  of  the  Revolution. — Not  merely 
in  Germany  but  everywhere  else,  these  promising  beginnings 
came  to  nothing  in  the  end.  The  czar,  Nicholas  I.,  even 
more  bitterly  opposed  to  liberty  than  Alexander  had  been, 
came  to  the  aid  of  the  Austrian  emperor.  An  army  of 
100,000  Russians  entered  Hungary,  overthrew  the  Republic, 
and  restored  the  Austrian  rule.  In  Vienna  and  Prague 
force  also  triumphed. 

The  Italians,  not  well  united  among  themselves,  suffered 
several  defeats,  and  in  the  spring  of  1849,  Charles  Albert 
abdicated  in  favor  of  his  son  Victor  Emanuel.  Milan  and 
Venice  submitted.  In  Rome  the  Republic  was  destoyed  by 
French  troops  sent  by  Louis  Napoleon,  the  President  of 
France,  and  they  remained  to  sustain  the  pope's  absolute 
government  so  long  as  the  rule  of  Napoleon  III.  lasted. 
In  the  Two  Sicilies,  also,  the  constitution  was  annulled. 
All  Italy  was  thrown  back  into  the  old  condition,  except  in 
the  kingdom  of  Sardinia,  where  Victor  Emanuel  refused  to 
do  away  with  the  constitution  at  the  demand  of  Austria,  and 
thus  kept  the  hopes  of  Italy  centred  in  his  house. 


Hindered  by 

lack  of 

national 

unity. 

Fyffe, 

Europe, 

Chap.  XX.; 

Miiller, 

Recent 

Times, 

212-253. 

The  king  of 
Prussia  will 
not  be 
emperor  of 
Germany. 
Schilling, 
Quellenbuch, 
428  and  431. 


The  czar  of 

Russia 

interferes. 


Despotism 
reestablishec 
in  Italy, 


except  in 
Sardinia. 


462 


Europe  since   181 5 


472,  473 


Louis 

Napoleon, 

President. 


The  coup 
d'etat  of 
Dec.  2,  1 85 1. 
Victor  Hugo, 
History  of  a 
Crime  ; 
Muller, 
Recent 
Times, 
197  ff. 

New  consti- 
tution in 
Lieber, 
Civil  Liberty. 

The  second 
Empire. 
Revised 
constitution 
in  Lieber, 
Civil  Liberty. 

The  cause 
of  free  gov- 
ernment 
apparently 
hopeless. 


472.  The  Second  Empire  established  by  Napoleon  III.  — 
In  the  meantime  the  short-lived  second  Republic  in  France 
was  drawing  rapidly  to  its  end.  It  had  been  weak  from  the 
beginning  because  it  was  not  desired  by  a  majority  of  the 
people.  Louis  Napoleon  had  been  elected  President  by  a 
very  large  popular  majority,  and  was  laying  plans  to  make 
his  power  permanent.  He  set  himself  forward  as  the  cham- 
pion of  universal  suffrage  against  the  monarchically  inclined 
Assembly,  and  of  order  and  security  against  the  red  republi- 
cans, while  the  army  was  tired  of  the  long  inglorious  peace 
and  hoped  for  better  things  from  a  Bonaparte. 

By  a  sudden  coup  d'etat  on  the  2d  of  December,  he 
arrested  the  leaders  of  the  opposition,  dissolved  the  Assem- 
bly, and  called  for  a  vote  by  universal  suffrage  to  make  him 
President  for  ten  years  and  to  authorize  a  revision  of  the 
constitution.  An  attempt  to  raise  Paris  against  him  failed, 
and  the  popular  vote  was  overwhelmingly  in  favor  of  the 
change  of  government. 

This  was  but  a  step  to  the  second  Empire,  and  a  year 
later  that  was  proclaimed,  after  the  sanction  of  another 
popular  vote.  The  constitution  made  the  emperor  abso- 
lute. He  was  responsible  to  the  people  only,  his  ministers 
to  him  alone.  The  legislature  was  under  his  control ;  free- 
dom of  speech  and  of  the  press  were  no  more.  But  France 
had  secured  what  it  especially  wished  at  the  time,  a  strong 
government. 

473.  Free  Government  indirectly  Secured.  —  It  was  now 
sixty  years  since  the  opening  of  the  French  revolution,  and 
still  the  effort  to  secure  real  political  liberty  was  a  failure. 
Despotism  seemed  as  strongly  intrenched  almost  every- 
where as  before  the  age  of  revolutions  began.  In  some  few 
countries,  like  Prussia  and  France,  constitutions  existed  in 
name,  and  this  was  a  point  gained,  but  in  these  constitu- 
tions the  real  power  was  most  carefully  preserved  to  the 
sovereign.  The  cause  of  the  people  might  well  seem  hope- 
less, but  it  was  in  truth  just  on  the  eve  of  success.  It  had 
met  its  last  great  defeat. 


§§  474?  475]      The  Independence  of  Greece 


463 


The  final  triumph  of  constitutional  government  in  Europe 
was  secured,  however,  not  by  a  direct  effort  of  the  kind 
which  was  made  in  the  revolutions  of  1830  and  1848.  It 
was  brought  about  rather  by  the  triumph  of  the  right  in 
another  cause,  that  of  national  unity  and  independence, 
which  had  been  all  along  closely  associated  with  it.  To 
this  we  must  now  turn  as  the  leading  movement  in  the  next 
stage  of  European  history. 

474.  The  Congress  of  Vienna  and  the  Idea  of  National- 
ity. —  The  Congress  of  Vienna,  in  rearranging  the  boundary 
lines  which  Napoleon  had  moved  about  to  suit  himself, 
treated  Europe  as  if  there  were  no  such  things  as  nations 
to  be  considered.  Italy  was  divided  up  into  petty  states  as 
the  interests  of  the  sovereigns  dictated.  Germany  was  treated 
as  arbitrarily  in  the  same  interest,  but  many  of  the  smaller 
states  of  earlier  times  which  had  been  wiped  out  by  the  dis- 
positions of  Napoleon  were  not  reestablished,  and  the  larger 
became  larger  still,  but  there  was  no  Germany.  The  Ger- 
manic Confederation,  which  was  established  with  a  Diet 
under  the  presidency  of  Austria,  was  as  empty  a  form  as 
the  old  Empire. 

Belgium,  though  differing  from  Holland  in  language,  reli- 
gion, and  economic  interests,  was  made  a  part  of  it.  Poland 
remained  divided,  and  though  a  part  of  it  was  given  a 
constitution  and  called  the  kingdom  of  Poland,  with  the 
czar  as  king,  this  was  a  form  and  disappeared  at  once  on 
the  first  attempt  to  make  it  more  real.  Meanwhile  such 
a  composite  empire  as  that  of  Austria,  which  corresponded 
to  no  nationality  but  included  several  great  races  or  parts 
of  several,  Germans,  Bohemians,  Hungarians,  Italians,  and 
others,  seemed  to  be  regarded  as  resting  on  as  natural  a 
foundation  as  any  true  nation. 

475.  The  Independence  of  Greece.  —  But  the  spirit  of 
nationality  and  the  longing  for  independence,  which  are 
perhaps  never  entirely  wanting,  had  been  newly  awakened 
by  the  uprising  of  the  peoples  against  Napoleon,  and  they 
were  no  more  destroyed  by  the  temporary  triumph  of  the 


The  Greeks 
the  first 
nation  to 
rise. 
Fyffe, 
Europe, 
Chap.  XV. 


464 


Europe  since   181 5 


[§476 


The  powers 
interfere. 


Belgium 
successful  in 
1830. 


Failure  in 
1848. 


opposite  principles  than  was  the  desire  for  political  liberty. 
Their  first  outbreak  in  actual  strife  was  in  the  insurrection 
of  the  Greeks  against  the  Turks,  which  began  in  1821. 
This  struggle  for  independence  involved  from  the  begin- 
ning of  course  the  perennial  Eastern  question,  and  was 
settled  at  last  as  a  part  of  that  question. 

Here  is  to  be  said  only  that  at  first  the  Greeks  were  left 
to  themselves,  because  the  powers  could  not  agree  upon 
their  action;  and  after  more  than  five  years  of  heroic  re- 
sistance, aided  only  by  a  few  volunteers,  like  Lord  Byron, 
the  Turkish  warfare  characterized  as  always  by  horrible 
atrocities,  they  were  practically  subdued  by  Egyptian  troops 
in  the  Turkish  service.  Then  Russia,  on  the  accession  of 
the  new  czar,  Nicholas  I.,  interfered,  seconded  by  England 
and  France,  and  Turkey  was  compelled  to  acknowledge 
the  independence  of  Greece  in  1829.  An  attempt  to  or- 
ganize the  new  state  as  a  republic  proved  a  failure,  and 
Otto  of  Bavaria  became  its  first  king. 

476.  The  Attempts  following  the  Two  French  Revolu- 
tions.—  The  revolution  of  1830  in  France  enabled  the 
people  of  Belgium  to  break  their  connection  with  Holland 
and  to  found  a  government  representing  the  nation,  with 
Leopold  of  Saxe-Coburg-Gotha  as  king.  But  every  other 
attempt  to  realize  national  aspirations  failed.  Poland  lost 
even  the  little  that  it  had ;  Italy  remained  under  Austria. 

Again  in  1848  the  same  result  followed  most  promising 
beginnings,  as  we  have  seen.  The  Hungarians  organized 
a  republic.  The  Bohemians  drove  out  the  Austrians,  as 
did  the  Italians  from  north  Italy.  The  king  of  Sardinia 
threw  the  resources  of  his  little  state  into  the  struggle  for 
Italian  independence.  In  Germany  a  national  constitution 
was  drawn  up,  and  the  crown,  which  it  was  hoped  would 
be  that  of  a  united  nation,  was  offered  to  the  king  of 
Prussia.  But  Prussia  hardly  saw  as  yet  that  the  way  to  the 
realization  of  her  long-cherished  ambition,  to  expel  Aus- 
trian influence  and  to  become  the  leading  state  in  Germany, 
should  be  the  way  of  national  unity. 


§§  477?  478]  The  Policy  of  Cavour 


465 


She  had  already,  unconsciously,  taken  one  long  step 
towards  this  result  in  the  Zollverein  which  she  had  organ- 
ized in  1833,  in  spite  of  the  opposition  of  Austria.  This 
was  a  customs  union  between  most  of  the  German  states, 
by  which  national  unity  on  one  most  important  side,  the 
commercial,  was  created,  and  a  strong  influence  towards 
political  unity  set  in  motion.  But  Frederick  William  now 
refused  the  crown;  the  constitution  could  not  be  put  into 
operation ;  and  Austria  recovered  control  of  all  her  revolted 
races. 

477.  The  Spirit  of  Nationality  growing  stronger. — But 
the  spirit  of  national  unity  and  independence  had  grown 
much  stronger  in  spite  of  these  failures,  and  it  was  not 
much  longer  to  be  held  down.  The  king  of  Prussia  soon 
made  an  attempt  to  form  a  political  union  between  a  part 
of  the  German  states,  but  gave  it  up  on  the  determined 
opposition  of  Austria.  In  Italy  the  house  of  Savoy  stood 
clearly  forth  as  the  declared  champion  of  union  and  inde- 
pendence. In  both  these  countries  the  central  core  of  a 
new  national  state  was  prepared. 

It  was  in  these  two  countries  also  that  the  current  ran 
most  strongly  in  this  direction.  Neither  had  ever  had  a 
government  giving  expression  to  the  national  feeling  since 
they  had  become  conscious  of  such  a  feeling.  The  feudal 
system,  the  Holy  Roman  Empire,  the  policy  of  the  papacy, 
and  the  diplomacy  of  modern  Europe,  had  in  turn  kept 
them  broken  and  divided.  But  now  that  the  current  had 
begun  to  run,  it  ran  all  the  deeper  and  stronger  for  the 
long  holding  back. 

478.  The  Policy  of  Cavour.  —  It  was  ten  years  before 
another  opportunity  occurred.  In  the  meantime  the  king 
of  Sardinia  had  made,  under  the  wise  guidance  of  his  min- 
ister, Cavour,  a  shrewd  stroke  to  gain  the  gratitude  of  some 
of  the  first  powers  of  Europe  by  joining  the  allies  against 
Russia  in  the  Crimean  war  and  sending  his  little  army  to 
their  aid.  This  led  directly  to  the  desired  result.  The 
Congress  of  Paris,  which  followed  the  war,  was  not  willing 

2  u 


The 

Zollverein. 
Miiller, 
Recent 
Times,  164. 


The  cause 
of  unity 
gaining 
leaders. 


The  current 
strong  in 
Germany 
and  Italy. 


Cavour  wins 

allies  for  his 

plans. 

Fyffe, 

Europe, 

Chap. 

XXII.; 

Miiller, 

Recent 


466 


Europe 


c  since 


1815 


[§479 


270-292 ; 
Cesaresco, 
Liberation  of 
Italy 
(Scribner). 

War  with 
Austria. 


to  allow  Cavour  to  accomplish  his  plans  by  diplomatic 
means.  But  the  emperor,  Napoleon  III.,  was  ready  to 
enter  into  a  close  alliance  with  him. 

Encouraged  by  this,  Cavour  began  extensive  military 
preparations.  When  he  refused  to  explain  these  prepara- 
tions at  the  demand  of  Austria,  she  declared  war  and  sent 
a  large  army  into  Italy.  Napoleon  III.  immediately  sent 
against  it  a  still  larger  army.     The  Austrians  were  beaten 


Count  Cavour 


The  people 
too  strong 
for  the 
diplomats. 


in  three  great  battles.  Lombardy  and  Milan  were  occupied 
and  Venice  threatened.  But  Napoleon  did  not  wish  to 
go  too  far.  He  refused  to  drive  the  Austrians  from  Venetia. 
In  November,  1859,  he  concluded  the  treaty  of  Zurich  with 
Austria,  by  which  Lombardy  was  given  to  Victor  Emanuel, 
and  the  Italian  states  were  authorized  to  form  a  confederacy. 
479.  United  Italy.  —  But  matters  had  now  gone  too 
far  to  be  controlled  any  longer  by  diplomacy.  The  people 
took  matters  into  their  own  hands.     Everywhere  they  arose, 


48o] 


William  I.  and  Bismarck 


467 


expelled  the  rulers  of  their  little  states,  and  voted  their  own 
annexation  to  Sardinia.  All  central  Italy  down  to  the  States 
of  the  Church  had  done  this  by  March,  i860.  Napoleon  III. 
signified  that  he  would  acquiesce  in  these  arrangements  if 
compensation  were  granted  him  by  the  cession  to  France 
of  Savoy  and  Nice,  and  this  was  allowed  him,  —  the  largest 
permanent  annexation  of  territory  made  by  France  since 
the  reign  of  Louis  XIV. 

But  the  end  was  not  yet.  In  the  next  month  the  people 
of  Sicily  rose  against  their  Bourbon  king.  Garibaldi  went 
to  their  aid.  In  a  short  time  the  whole  kingdom  of  the 
Two  Sicilies  and  a  large  part  of  the  territories  of  the  pope 
had  been  freed,  and  had  put  themselves  under  Victor 
Emanuel.  In  February  of  the  next  year,  the  kingdom 
of  Italy  was  proclaimed,  —  the  first  real  one  that  had  ex- 
isted in  history,  —  with  a  constitution  and  parliamentary 
institutions.  Rome  was  not  yet  its  capital,  for  the  French 
troops  still  held  that  city  and  Victor  Emanuel  was  not  ready 
to  break  with  France,  and  Austria  still  kept  Venetia.  But 
the  occupation  of  Rome  and  Venice  could  only  be  delayed 
until  the  first  favorable  opportunity. 

480.  William  I.  and  Bismarck.  —  The  realization  of 
German  aspirations  for  national  unity  was  deferred  for  ten 
years  longer,  and  cost  in  blood  and  treasure  far  more  than 
had  Italian.  Frederick  William  IV.  of  Prussia,  who  had 
refused  the  imperial  crown  in  1848  and  who  had  been  un- 
willing to  oppose  Austria  with  the  necessary  determination, 
was  succeeded  in  1861  by  his  brother  William  I.  He  was 
a  man  of  different  stuff.  Early  in  his  reign  he  made  Otto 
von  Bismarck  his  leading  minister,  and  through  a  long  reign 
he  cordially  sustained  the  vigorous  and  determined  policy 
of  his  chancellor. 

If  Frederick  William's  policy  had  been  to  wait  until  the 
chance  should  come  when  everything  would  be  favorable, 
Bismarck's  was  to  force  the  favorable  opportunity  and  to 
overturn  every  obstacle  with  violence  —  the  policy  of  blood 
and  iron,  as  he  called  it  himself.     So  far  as  national  unity 


Garibaldi 
and  the 
south  of 
Italy. 


William  I. 

opens  a  new 

era  for 

Prussia,  1861. 

Fyffe, 

Europe, 

Chap. 

XXIII.; 

Malleson, 

Re  founding 

of  the 

German 

Empire 

(Scribner). 

The  policy 

of  "  blood 

and  iron." 

Miiller, 

Recent 

Times, 

304-309. 


468 


Europe  since  1815 


481,  482 


The  consti- 
tution 
overridden. 


The 

Schleswig- 
Holstein 
question. 
Mflller, 
Recent 
Times, 
309-318. 


Little 
Denmark 
the  first 
stepping- 
stone  in  the 
rise  of 
Prussia, 
1864. 


was  concerned  that  should  be  realized,  but  it  should  be  real- 
ized by  the  sword  of  Prussia,  and  the  new  nation  should  re- 
main under  the  dominant  control  of  Prussia.  From  the 
beginning  this  was  the  end  which  Bismarck  sought  to  reach, 
and  this  was  what  he  accomplished. 

481 .  The  Army  made  ready.  —  The  first  necessity  for 
the  success  of  such  a  policy  was  a  strong  army.  This 
William  had  seen  before  Bismarck  entered  the  ministry ; 
and  while  he  was  regent,  in  the  last  years  of  his  brother's 
reign,  he  had  begun  to  increase  the  size  of  the  standing 
army,  and  to  improve  its  organization  and  discipline.  In 
the  Prussian  legislature  a  majority  was  opposed  to  these 
measures,  and  repeated  dissolutions  failed  to  secure  the 
lacking  votes.  But  the  policy  could  not  be  abandoned. 
Soon  after  Bismarck  took  office,  it  was  announced  to  the 
legislature  that  the  government  would  go  on  with  its  plans 
without  the  required  constitutional  sanction.  It  was  only 
after  the  first  great  military  successes  of  this  army  that  the 
representatives  of  the  people  acquiesced  in  this  policy. 

482.  The  New  Prussia's  First  War. — The  opportunity 
to  try  the  army  came  very  soon.  The  king  of  Denmark 
was  the  sovereign  also  of  two  German  duchies,  Schleswig 
and  Holstein,  lying  directly  south  of  Denmark  proper. 
According  to  existing  diplomatic  arrangements,  these  were 
to  remain  separate  states  and  could  not  be  incorporated  in 
the  kingdom  of  Denmark.  At  the  end  of  1863  a  new 
constitution  was  made  for  Denmark,  which  was  arranged  to 
apply  to  Schleswig  also  in  such  a  way  as  practically  to  an- 
nex that  duchy  to  Denmark.  The  German  Confederation 
objected.  Denmark  persisted.  In  January,  1864,  an  army 
of  Austrian  and  Prussian  troops  invaded  the  country. 
Resistance  was  determined  but  hopeless  against  such  odds. 

Denmark  was  forced  out  of  the  country  in  a  few  weeks, 
and  in  October  ceded  the  duchies.  After  some  disagree- 
ment between  Austria  and  Prussia  as  to  the  disposition  to 
be  made  of  the  conquest,  Prussia  took  Schleswig  and 
Austria  Holstein.      The  immediate  gain  was  very  consider- 


Bismarck 


47o 


Europe  since   1815 


483,  484 


Prussia 

could  not 

unite 

Germany 

without  first 

overthrowing 

Austria. 


Careful 
preparation 
made  for 
the  war. 


The  odds 
against 
Prussia. 
Fyffe, 
Europe, 
Chap. 
XXIII.; 
Miiller, 
Recent 
Times, 
318-368; 


able  for  Prussia  and  almost  nothing  for  Austria.  Still  more 
important  was  the  fact  that  this  arrangement  would  be  likely 
to  afford  grounds  for  a  quarrel  with  Austria  as  soon  as 
Prussia  was  ready  for  it. 

483.  War  with  Austria  must  come. — This  conflict  was 
a  necessity,  both  for  the  realization  of  the  plans  of  Prussia 
and  of  the  hopes  of  German  patriots.  Prussia  could  not 
be  the  dominant  power  in  the  nation  unless  Austria  were 
humbled.  No  national  unity  was  possible  so  long  as  these 
rival  powers  stood  upon  an  equal  footing.  All  through  the 
middle  of  the  century  public  opinion  in  Germany  had  looked 
more  hopefully  to  Prussia  than  to  Austria  as  the  power  from 
which  unity  was  to  be  expected.  Lately,  feeling  had  begun 
to  turn  against  Prussia  on  account  of  the  violence  which  the 
government  had  shown  to  the  constitution  and  on  account 
of  its  treatment  of  the  Schleswig-Holstein  question. 

Bismarck  made  careful  diplomatic  preparation  for  the  com- 
ing war.  Measures  were  taken  which  it  was  hoped  would 
secure  the  neutrality  of  Napoleon  III.  With  Italy,  which 
was  more  than  willing  from  its  eagerness  to  obtain  Venice, 
a  close  alliance  was  made  for  the  event  of  a  war  of  either 
state  with  Austria.  Immediately  after  the  making  of  this 
treaty,  Bismarck  proposed  to  the  Diet  the  calling  of  an 
assembly  for  a  revision  of  the  constitution  of  the  Confeder- 
ation. This  could  only  mean  one  thing,  the  formation  of  a 
new  confederation  without  Austria.  The  Diet  decided,  how- 
ever, rather  in  favor  of  Austria.  Thereupon  Prussia  formerly 
withdrew  from  the  Confederation,  and  war  began  at  once. 

484.  The  "  Seven  Weeks'  "  War.  —  The  war  was  a  real 
civil  war.  On  the  side  of  Prussia  were  the  small  states 
of  the  north.  But  on  the  side  of  Austria  all  the  south, 
and  all  the  large  states  of  the  north,  like  Hanover,  Saxony, 
Nassau,  and  the  electorate  of  Hesse,  whose  governments 
had  the  most  to  fear  from  the  designs  of  Prussia.  The 
odds  seemed  to  be  against  William  and  his  minister,  but 
the  advantage  of  their  thorough  preparation  was  quickly 
manifest. 


§§  485<  486]    Results  of  the  War  for  Austria 


471 


The  war  was  soon  over.  It  has  been  called  the  Seven 
Weeks'  War.  In  three  weeks,  indeed,  Austria  had  been  so 
thoroughly  beaten  in  the  great  battle  of  Koniggratz,  or 
Sadowa,  in  Bohemia,  that  no  further  resistance  was  for  the 
moment  possible,  and  the  Prussian  army  reached  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Vienna  before  an  armistice  was  arranged  through 
the  mediation  of  Napoleon  III.  The  allies  of  Austria  could 
not  hope  to  overcome  Prussia  alone,  and  were  obliged  to 
accept  the  result.  The  Italians  had  had  no  corresponding 
good  fortune  in  their  campaign.  They  had  been  beaten  on 
land  and  at  sea,  but  the  destruction  of  the  Austrian  army  at 
Sadowa  had  compelled  the  recall  of  her  Italian  troops  and 
the  abandonment  of  Venice. 

485.  The  Results  of  the  War  for  Germany.  —  The  peace 
of  Prague,  which  closed  the  war,  did  not  create  German 
unity,  but  it  made  its  creation  very  easy  on  the  next  oppor- 
tunity. Austria  withdrew  from  Germany.  Prussia  made 
large  annexations.  Hanover,  Nassau,  Electoral  Hesse, 
Schleswig-Holstein,  and  Frankfort  were  taken,  and  thus  for 
the  first  time  her  provinces  on  the  Rhine  were  connected  by 
continuous  territory  with  those  in  the  east. 

Then  a  new  confederation  was  formed  with  the  other 
North  German  states,  a  union  whose  constitution  formed  the 
foundation  of  that  of  the  present  German  Empire.  The 
foreign  policy  of  the  Confederation  was  to  be  under  the 
control  of  Prussia,  and  its  military  resources  in  time  of  war. 
The  large  South  German  states,  though  not  members  of  this 
confederation,  in  a  short  time  made  secret  treaties  with 
Prussia,  by  which  their  troops  were  to  be  placed  under  the 
command  of  the  king  of  Prussia  in  case  of  war.  It  needed 
but  slight  changes  to  transform  this  arrangement  into  a 
federal  state,  the  present  Empire. 

486.  The  Results  of  the  War  for  Austria.  —  The  with- 
drawal of  Austria  from  Germany  did  not  constitute  all  the 
change  which  the  war  forced  upon  her.  Venice  was  ceded 
to  Italy,  and  so  that  country  advanced  a  step  towards  national 
completeness.    But  also  the  spirit  of  race  independence  and 


Leger, 
Austro- 
Hungary, 
567-571. 


The  creation 
of  Austria- 
Hungary 
under  con- 
stitutional 
governments. 


472 


Europe  since   1815 


[§§  487r  488 


of  constitutional  government  triumphed  elsewhere  in  the 
Empire.  Francis  Joseph  had  granted  a  constitution  to  the 
Empire,  after  the  war  with  Italy  and  France  in  i860,  but  it 
had  been  very  imperfectly  carried  out.  Now  Hungary  was 
created  a  separate  kingdom,  with  its  own  constitution,  minis- 
try, legislature,  and  local  self-government.  A  similar  consti- 
tution was  also  given  Austria,  and  the  two  states  were  united 
in  a  kind  of  federal  legislature  for  the  consideration  of  com- 
mon affairs.  The  day  when  the  Bohemians  and  the  other 
races  under  Austrian  rule  should  obtain  their  local  inde- 
pendence was  postponed,  but  the  way  was  made  easier  by 
what  Hungary  had  gained. 

487.  The  Franco-Prussian  War  desired  by  Both  Govern- 
ments. —  Another  greater  and  more  glorious  war  was  to 
complete  the  process  of  nation  making  in  Germany,  the  war 
with  France.  This  was  a  war  which  seemed  equally  neces- 
sary to  the  governments  of  both  countries.  If  Prussia 
needed  it  to  complete  the  organization  of  the  new  Empire, 
Napoleon  III.  thought  that  by  a  victorious  war  with  Prussia, 
whose  growing  power  seemed  a  menace  to  France,  he  could 
strengthen  his  government. 

Things  had  not  been  going  well  with  the  emperor  of 
recent  years.  The  failure  of  his  attempt  in  Mexico  to 
overthrow  the  republic  and  set  up  an  empire  under  his  pro- 
tection had  reacted  against  him  in  France.  The  republican 
opposition  was  growing  constantly  stronger,  not  merely 
among  the  people,  but  in  the  legislature.  The  concessions 
which  Napoleon  made  from  time  to  time,  going  at  last  so 
far  as  to  grant  the  responsibility  of  the  ministry  to  the  legis- 
lature, failed  of  their  purpose  —  the  conciliation  of  the  oppo- 
sition. The  republicans  were  glad  to  get  anything  they  could, 
but  they  were  not  to  be'  satisfied  short  of  everything.  A 
glorious  foreign  war,  especially  one  against  Prussia,  would 
arouse  the  enthusiasm  of  the  French  and  the  memories  of 
the  first  Empire,  and  secure  the  position  of  the  Napoleonic 
dynasty  for  another  generation. 

488.  The  Pretext  found  for  War.  —  When  two  countries 


§§  489,  49°]  The  Course  of  the  War 


473 


are  anxious  to  go  to  war  with  one  another,  an  excuse  can 
soon  be  found,  and  the  ostensible  reason  for  the  Franco- 
Prussian  War  was  a  mere  excuse.  In  1868  the  Spanish  peo- 
ple, tired  of  the  rule  of  their  Bourbon  queen,  Isabella,  had 
driven  her  out  by  a  revolution,  and  had  organized  a  republic. 
But  Spain  was  not  yet  able  to  govern  herself  under  repub- 
lican forms,  and  in  a  few  years  they  began  to  look  about  for 
some  prince,  not  a  Bourbon,  who  would  rule  as  a  constitu- 
tional sovereign. 

Early  in  the  summer  of  1870,  Prince  Leopold,  of  the 
younger  Hohenzollern  line,  accepted  the  throne.  At  once 
France  protested.  It  could  not  tolerate  the  reestablishment 
of  the  monarchy  of  Charles  V.  in  favor  of  the  Hohenzollerns. 
Prince  Leopold  withdrew  his  acceptance.  France  then  de- 
manded of  King  William  an  assurance  that  the  crown  of 
Spain  should  not  be  accepted  at  any  future  time.  When 
this  was  refused,  relations  were  broken  off  and  the  war  was 
begun. 

489.  France  began  the  War  with  False  Hopes.  —  France 
immediately  found  herself  disappointed  and  deceived  in 
more  ways  than  one.  She  had  expected  that  Austria  and 
the  South  German  states  would  join  in  the  war  against 
Prussia,  anxious  to  be  revenged  for  their  defeat  in  the  last 
war.  But  Austria  was  held  back  by  Russia,  and  the  South 
German  people  proved  themselves  as  enthusiastic  and  patri- 
otic as  those  of  the  north  in  resisting  the  hereditary  enemy. 
The  German  nation  was  at  last  united. 

France  had  believed  also  that  everything  was  well  pre- 
pared in  the  way  of  war  material  and  a  well-organized  and 
disciplined  army  for  a  rapid  advance  into  German  territory. 
"  On  to  Berlin  "  was  the  cry  of  the  multitude.  In  this  she  was 
deceived.  Nothing  was  ready.  The  German  army  was  larger, 
in  better  order,  and  better  handled.  It  was  especially  rapid 
in  its  attack,  and  there  never  was  a  moment  when  the 
French  had  the  least  chance  of  invading  German  soil. 

490.  The  Course  of  the  War. — Within  two  months  the 
great  French  armies  which  were  to  capture  Berlin  had  sur- 


A  revolution 

in  Spain. 

Miiller, 

Recent 

Times, 

409-417. 


Disap- 
pointed of 
allies. 


474 


Europe  since  1815 


[§49o 


armies 

surrender. 

Muller, 

Recent 

Times, 

426-440. 


The 

republic 
proclaimed 
in  Paris. 
Sept.  4,  1870. 


rendered  to  the  enemy.     MacMahon  was  beaten  in  the  great 
battle  of  Worth,  and  later  his  reorganized  army 
was  compelled  to  surrender  at  Sedan,  where 
also  the  Emperor  Napoleon,  who  had  been 
present  at  the  battle,  sent  his  sword  to 
"his   brother"    King   William.      Ba- 
zaine  with  the  other  great   army 
held  out  for  a  few  weeks  longer 
in  the  fortress  of  Metz,  and 
then  surrendered  also. 
In  Paris  on  the  news 
of  Sedan  the  repub- 
lic had  been  pro- 
claimed and  a  pro- 
visional    govern- 
ment of  national 
defence  had  been 
organized.     After 
an  attempt  to  ne- 
gotiate with   Bis- 
marck, the  new 
government, 
which  refused  to 
pay  the  price  of 
the  cession  of  Al- 
sace and  Lorraine 
which     was     de- 
manded     for 
peace,    deter- 
mined  to  go   on 
with  the  war.    Be- 
fore the    end   of 
September,  hardly 
more    than    six 
weeks    after    the 
first  fighting,  Paris 
was  completely  surrounded  by  the  German  lines. 


Germania  Niedkrwald  Monument 


§§  491?  492]      Alsace-Lorraine  and  Rome 


475 


The  city  made  a  brave  defence.  It  endured  a  bombard- 
ment of  three  weeks,  and  attempted  in  a  desperate  sortie  to 
break  the  siege  lines.  Outside  the  city  also  the  efforts  of  the 
provisional  government  had  no  better  result.  Their  armies 
in  the  various  provinces  all  met  with  defeat.  Finally  further 
resistance  became  hopeless,  and  an  armistice  was  agreed 
upon  at  the  end  of  January,  1871.  A  national  assembly  was 
elected  which  met  in  Bordeaux  to  arrange  the  terms  of 
peace.  France  was  obliged  now  to  accede  to  Bismarck's 
demand  and  give  up  Alsace  and  Lorraine,  to  pay  a  large 
war  indemnity,  and  to  allow  the  German  troops  to  hold  a 
part  of  France  until  it  was  paid. 

491.  The  Empire  of  Germany.  —  In  demanding  the  ces- 
sion of  these  provinces,  Bismarck  was  hardly  true  to  the 
principle  of  nationality  to  which  he  owed  so  much.  For 
that  principle  had  now  completely  triumphed  in  Germany. 
On  the  1 8th  of  January,  in  the  hall  of  Louis  XIV.'s  palace  at 
Versailles,  the  German  Empire  had  been  proclaimed  with 
William  I.  as  emperor,  and  all  the  States  united  under  one 
government.  This  triumph  of  the  principle  of  nationality  in 
Germany  carried  with  it  in  form  the  triumph  of  constitutional 
government,  for  the  constitution  of  the  Empire  was  that  of  a 
limited  monarchy.  But  in  practice  the  imperial  ministries 
have  not  been  responsible  to  the  legislature,  and  the  German 
people  have  still  much  to  gain  before  they  have  entirely  free 
government. 

492.  Alsace-Lorraine  and  Rome. — In  the  case  of  Alsace 
and  Lorraine,  the  territory  had  indeed  at  one  time  belonged 
to  Germany.  It  had  come  into  the  possession  of  France 
at  various  times  and  in  different  ways.  Some  of  it  had 
been  conquered  by  Louis  XIV.,  and  a  part  of  this,  like 
Strasburg,  by  a  most  violent  and  brutal  disregard  of  law 
and  right.  But  it  had  now  become  really  French,  and 
its  representatives  in  the  assembly  made  solemn  protest 
against  the  cession.  That  it  may  in  time  become  as 
truly  German  is  likely,  but  its  annexation  by  Germany,  in 
which  it  was  organized  as  a  separate  imperial  territory,  can 


France 
forced  to 
accept 
Bismarck's 
terms. 


William  I., 
emperor  of 
Germany. 
See  on 
growth  of 
German 
unity  to  the 
Empire. 
Bryce, 
Holy  Romas, 
Empire, 
399-445. 


Alsace- 
Lorraine 
really  a 
foreign 
conquest. 


476 


Europe  since  1815 


[§§  493>  494 


Rome  the 
capital  of 
Italy. 


The 
Commune. 


The  consti- 
tution very 
slowly 
created. 
Annals  Am. 
Acad.  Pol. 
and  Social 
Science, 
Vol.  VI.,  and 
Supplement, 
March,  1893. 


National 
unity  and 
constitu- 
tional 
governments. 


hardly  be  regarded  otherwise  than  as  a  conquest  of  force, 
like  Louis  XIV.'s. 

The  war  had  other  consequences  than  the  union  of  Ger- 
many. Napoleon  could  no  longer  protect  the  pope.  In 
September,  1870,  the  Italian  troops  entered  Rome,  and  that 
city  became  the  capital  of  united  Italy.  In  France  the  re- 
sults were  still  more  important.  The  despotism  of  the 
second  Empire  was  at  an  end,  and  the  third  Republic  was 
begun. 

493.  The  Third  Republic  in  France. — The  way  of  the 
new  republic  was  not  easy  at  first.  It  had  many  dangers  to 
overcome.  The  communistic  party  in  Paris,  which  had 
aroused  so  much  fear  in  the  middle  classes  in  1848,  had  in- 
creased in  strength.  Now  it  rose  in  insurrection  again, 
seized  Paris,  and  held  it  several  weeks,  doing  enormous 
damage  before  it  could  be  subdued. 

Throughout  the  whole  of  France  the  republic  was  hardly 
desired  by  the  majority  of  the  people,  and  progress  in  the 
formation  of  a  final  republican  constitution  was  slow  and 
cautious.  It  was  five  years  before  the  legislature  contained 
a  republican  majority,  and  it  was  some  years  more  before 
the  constitution  was  completed,  and  the  country  began  to 
have  confidence  in  the  permanence  of  the  government. 
The  third  Republic  has  now,  however,  passed  through  several 
severe  crises  in  safety ;  its  legislatures  and  cabinets  have 
shown  themselves  less  subject  to  panic  in  times  of  threatened 
coup  d'etat  than  was  formerly  the  case  with  republican  gov- 
ernments in  France  ;  and  the  people  seem  to  have  acquired 
calmness  and  self-control  and  to  be  learning  real  self-gov- 
ernment. We  may  hope  that  France  has  at  last  obtained 
a  free  government  by  the  people  in  the  place  of  paternal 
despotism. 

494.  The  Results  of  the  Period  in  Europe  at  Large.  —  By 
the  end  of  the  Franco- Prussian  War,  in  1871,  national  unity 
had  been  secured  by  Italy  and  Germany,  and  all  the  coun- 
tries of  Europe,  except  Russia,  had  gained  constitutional 
government.      These  governments  all  follow  more  or  less 


9  495]  The  Eastern  Question  477 

closely  the  model  of  limited  monarchy  created  by  England, 
and  where  they  are  administered  in  the  same  spirit,  as  is 
nearly  everywhere  the  case,  they  make,  as  the  constitution 
of  England  does,  a  virtual  republic. 


M.  Thiers 

495.   The   Eastern   Question.  —  During  the   last  quarter  More  than 
of  the  nineteenth  century,  the  great  interest  of  international   cen*ury  old 
politics  in  Europe  has  been  the  "  Eastern  question."     This 
question  has  troubled  European  diplomacy  for  more  than 
a  hundred  years,  and  seems  after  all  this  time  no  nearer 
solution  than  at  the  beginning.     The  difficulty  has  not  been  The  real 
to  overthrow  the  Turk,  for,  if  he  had  been  left  to  himself,   difficulty- 
his  dominion  would  have  ended  long  ago,  but  it  has  been 
to  find  a  disposition  of  his  territories  which  would  satisfy 
all  the  interested  parties.      Russia,  Austria,  and  England, 
on  account  of  her  possession  of  India,  have  all  had  an  im- 


478 


Europe  since  1815 


[§§  496,  497 


The  results. 


Its  origin. 
See  p.  402. 


Mahmoud 

II.. 

1808-1839. 


The  value 

of  reforms. 

Fyffe, 

Europe, 

659-672; 

Muller, 

Recent 

Times, 

155-159. 


The  inter- 
ference of 
Russia. 


mediate  concern  in  the  result,  and  the  other  states  have 
been  indirectly  interested  not  to  allow  too  great  an  exten- 
sion of  power  to  any  one  state. 

The  impossibility  of  reaching  an  agreement  among  the 
great  powers,  except  for  a  small  piece  at  a  time,  has  kept 
the  Turkish  Empire  a  long  time  dying,  and  it  has  exposed 
the  weaker  Christian  races  left  under  its  rule  at  different 
times  to  most  barbarous  atrocities ;  but  on  the  other  hand, 
in  a  part  of  European  Turkey,  it  has  led  to  a  recogni- 
tion, which  would  not  otherwise  have  been  made,  of  the 
principle  of  local  self-government  and  of  race  indepen- 
dence. 

496.  The  First  Stages  of  the  Question.  —  Near  the  close  of 
the  eighteenth  century,  as  we  have  seen,  Catherine  II.  had 
a  plan  for  the  disposition  of  European  Turkey  and  thought 
that  she  was  going  to  be  able  to  carry  it  through  with  the 
aid  of  Austria,  but  the  other  powers  stepped  in  and  she  was 
not  allowed  to  complete  the  work.  During  the  first  third 
of  the  nineteenth  century  there  was  a  considerable  re- 
vival of  strength  in  the  Turkish  Empire  due  to  the  vigor 
and  ability  of  the  sultan,  Mahmoud  II.  During  his  reign 
occurred  the  revolt  of  the  Greeks,  but  this  would  probably 
have  been  subdued  by  the  Turks  if  Russia,  England,  and 
France  had  not  taken  part  against  them. 

497.  Rise  of  Egypt  under  Mehemet  Ali.  —  At  the  same 
time  there  was  in  Egypt  a  most  remarkable  revival  of 
Mohammedan  power  under  the  pasha,  Mehemet  Ali,  one  of 
the  ablest  men  of  his  day.  He  began  with  well-considered 
political  and  military  reforms  in  his  own  province,  and 
appears  to  have  been  anxious  to  extend  the  benefit  of  these 
measures  to  the  whole  Empire,  as  the  first  minister  of  the 
sultan,  with  the  hope  of  bringing  back  the  great  days  of 
Turkish  history. 

He  was  opposed  at  Constantinople,  however,  and  was  at 
last  obliged  to  make  war  on  the  sultan.  His  troops  were 
at  once  successful,  and  conquered  all  Syria  and  a  large  part 
of  Asia  Minor.     Then  Russia    interfered,  alarmed    at   his 


§  498]         Preliminaries  of  Crimean  War 


479 


growing  power.  In  1833  Mehemet  Ali  agreed  to  a  peace 
with  Turkey  by  which  he  was  left  in  possession  of  Syria  and 
a  small  portion  of  Asia  Minor,  Russia  managing  as  usual  to 
secure  important  advantages  from  the  troubles  of  the  suc- 
cessor of  the  prophet. 

The  sultan,  however,  did  not  propose  to  allow  this  Finally 
arrangement  to  stand,  and  six  years  later  he  attacked  his  ir^™faes 
too  ambitious  governor.  Success  was  again  on  the  side  of 
Mehemet  Ali,  and  again  the  intervention  of  Russia  was 
necessary.  But  by  this  time  the  interest  of  other  powers 
had  been  excited,  particularly  that  of  England,  because  she 
recognized,  as  Bonaparte  had  done,  that  the  way  of  dan- 
gerous attack  upon  India  lay  through  Egypt.  Russia  had 
to  admit  the  intervention  of  England,  Austria,  and  Prussia 
with  her  own.  The  allied  poyvers  attacked  Syria.  Mehemet 
Ali  was  of  course  compelled  to  submit.  His  conquests  in 
Asia  were  taken  from  him,  but  he  was  allowed  Egypt  as  a 
hereditary  possession  of  his  family,  with  local  autonomy  but 
under  the  suzerainty  of  Turkey.  By  another  treaty  the 
European  powers  guaranteed  the  integrity  of  the  Turkish 
Empire. 

498.   The  Preliminaries  of  the   Crimean   War.  —  If  this   Nicholas  I. 
arrangement  was  for  the  purpose  of  putting  Russia  under  resumes  the 

1  1      .1     «  *     ♦  1         rr^.1  plans  of 

bonds  not  to  proceed  with  her  designs  in  regard  to  Turkey,  Catherine  I] 
it  had  no  more  effect  than  such  treaties  usually  do  in  simi- 
lar cases.  In  ten  years'  time  Nicholas  I.  had  resumed  his 
plans,  on  a  scale  as  extensive  as  those  of  Catherine  II.,  and 
he  hoped  to  succeed  in  alliance  with  England,  as  she  had 
hoped  to  by  the  help  of  Austria  and  France.  Egypt,  which 
Catherine  had  offered  to  France,  he  offered  together  with 
Crete  to  England.  He  proposed  to  take  the  most  of 
European  Turkey  and  Constantinople  himself.  England 
refused  the  offer.  Then  he  demanded  of  the  sultan  the 
protectorate  of  the  Christians  in  Turkey,  which  in  former 
times  had  been  conceded  to  Russia  by  treaty  and  subse- 
quently withdrawn.  On  the  refusal  to  grant  this  he  began 
war. 


480 


Europe  since   1815 


[§499 


England  and 
France  make 
war  on 
Russia. 
Fyffe, 
Europe, 


499.  The  Crimean  War  (1 854-1856).  —This  was  the  be- 
ginning of  the  Crimean  War.  His  successes  early  demanded 
the  attention  of  England.  Napoleon  III.  also  had  reasons  of 
his  own  for  interference,  and  he  was  not  sorry  to  have  the 
opportunity  for  a  war.     Later  the  king  of  Sardinia  joined 


Sebastopol 


Chap.  XXI. 

Muller, 
Recent 
Times, 
253-270. 


in  the  war  and  sent  fifteen  thousand  men  against  the 
czar.  The  allies  attacked  southern  Russia  through  the 
Black  Sea,  and  thus  forced  the  return  of  the  Russian  army 
from  beyond  the  Danube.  The  chief  event  of  the  war  was 
the  siege  of  Sebastopol,  which  the  Russians  were  finally 
obliged  to  yield.  In  the  course  of  the  war  Nicholas  I.  died 
and  the  more  liberal-minded  Alexander  II.  came  to  the 


§  5°°]  Russia  again  attacks   Turkey  48 1 

throne.     The  peace  of  Paris  in  1856  deprived  Russia  of  her   The  terms 
right  to  maintain  a  fleet  on  the  Black  Sea,  and  of  her  pro-    of  Peace« 
tectorate  of.  the  Danubian  principalities,  Wallachia  and  Mol- 
davia.    A  short  time  afterwards   these  principalities  were 
united  to  form  that  of  Roumania  with  local  independence 
on  the  payment  of  a  tribute  to  Turkey. 

The  result  of  the  Crimean  War  was,  therefore,  the  intro-   Theprinci- 
duction  of  the  practice  of  forming  little  independent  states  pie  of 
out  of  European  Turkey,  corresponding  to  the  local  division   rec 
of  races,  and  this  practice  has  since  been  carried  much 
further.     It  placed  a  barrier  of  independent  territory  be- 
tween Russia  and  the  Turkish  Empire,  and  this  result  was 
no  doubt  more  desired  by  the  allied  powers  than  any  recog- 
nition of  the  principle  of  nationality ;  but  it  is  not  to  be 
regretted  that  diplomacy  was  for  once  on  the  side  of  the 
people. 

500.    Russia  again  attacks  Turkey.     1877.  —  Alexander  Aiexan- 
II.  set  free  the  serfs  of  Russia  in  1863,  but  he  had  no  in-   Continues 
tention  of  abandoning  the  policy  of  his  ancestors  for  aggran-   Russia's 
dizement  at  the  expense  of  Turkey.     The  Franco-Prussian  PoUcy- 
War  gave  him  an  opportunity  of  which  he  took  advantage   Europe, 
to  recover  the  right  to  keep  ships  of  war  on  the  Black  Chap.  XXV. 
Sea.     Soon  afterwards  insurrections  of  the  Christians  be- 
gan in  the  Danube  valley,  which  the  Turks  undertook  to 
repress  in  their  usual  style  with  barbarous  cruelties.     The  The  Bul- 

Bulgarian  massacres  so  excited  the  horror  of  Europe,  es-  ganan 

0  massacres, 

pecially  of  England,  that  Russia  believed  she  could  venture 

to  interfere. 

The  Turks  made  a  most  vigorous  defence,  especially  at  Russia 
the   fortress   at   Plevna,  under  Osman  Pasha,  but   he  was  Tek£sSthe 
obliged  to   surrender   in   December,  1877.     The  Russians   Mulier, 
now  crossed  the  Balkans,  and  advanced  to  the  neighborhood  Recent 
of  Constantinople.     It  was  the  plan  of  Alexander  to  form  a  5X^4. 
great  state  under  Russian  protection  of  almost  all  the  Euro- 
pean territories  of  Turkey,  and  to  this  the  sultan  consented 
in  the  treaty  of  San  Stefano.     This  would  never  do  for  the 
interests   of  Austria  and   England.     Lord   Beaconsfield — ■ 
21 


482 


Europe  since  1815 


[§§  5°i,  5°2 


In  general, 

Miiller, 
Recent 
Times, 

547-554 1 
McCarthy, 
Our  Own 
Times,  II., 
Chap.  LXV. 

Russia. 


Austria. 


The  Balkan 

states. 

Miller, 

The  Balkan 

States 

(Nations). 


Russia  not 

entirely 

satisfied. 


Disraeli  —  especially  protested  against  it,  and  by  the  medi- 
ation of  Bismarck  a  congress  was  called  to  meet  at  Berlin 
and  make  arrangements  satisfactory  to  all. 

501.  The  Treaty  of  Berlin.  1878. — The  treaty  of  Berlin 
changed  entirely  the  dispositions  of  that  of  San  Stefano. 
Russia  gained  less,  Turkey  retained  more,  and  at  the  same 
time  the  small  states  of  the  Danube  valley  obtained  a  more 
independent  position.  To  Russia  was  given  a  strip  of 
territory  at  the  northwestern  corner  of  the  Black  Sea, 
which  carried  her  boundary  once  more  to  the  northern 
mouth  of  the  Danube,  and  in  Asia  an  addition  to  her 
lands  south  of  the  Caucasus,  including  the  cities  of  Kars 
and  Batoum. 

Austria  was  allowed  the  military  occupation  and  adminis- 
tration of  the  provinces  of  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina,  a  virt- 
ual annexation.  England,  by  an  arrangement  of  its  own 
with  the  sultan,  took  possession  of  Cyprus,  engaging  to  pay 
over  to  Turkey  the  surplus  revenue,  and  hoping  to  be  able 
from  there  to  watch  and  check  the  designs  of  Russia  in 
western  Asia. 

Russia's  great  Balkan  state  was  cut  to  pieces.  Macedonia 
went  back  to  Turkey  and  has  remained  under  the  sultan 
ever  since.  Bulgaria,  between  the  Danube  and  the  Balkans, 
was  made  a  principality  dependent  upon  Turkey,  and  the 
province  south  of  the  Balkans  was  left  to  Turkey,  but  was 
to  have  an  independent  administration  under  a  Christian 
governor.  The  sultan  agreed  to  make  some  small  additions 
to  Greece,  and  this  was  done  a  few  years  later.  The  older 
Danubian  principalities,  Roumania,  Servia,  and  Montenegro, 
were  made  independent  states. 

502.  Later  History  of  the  Balkan  States.  —  This  treaty, 
the  most  important  step  ever  taken  towards  the  settlement 
of  the  Eastern  question,  because  it  proceeded  according  to 
national  lines,  did  not  prove  a  final  settlement  because  it  did 
not  go  far  enough.  Russia  was  disappointed  of  the  con- 
trolling influence  which  she  hoped  to  exercise  in  Bulgaria, 
a  strong  party  in  that  state  favoring  an  independent  national 


484 


Europe  since  1815 


[§503 


Bulgaria 
advancing. 


Bulgaria's 

independent 

attitude. 


The  future  of 
the  Danube 
valley. 


The 

Armenian 

massacres. 


policy.  In  1885  the  South  Balkan  province,  eastern  Rume- 
lia,  elected  the  prince  of  Bulgaria  its  governor.  This  was 
equivalent  to  an  annexation,  and  Servia  at  once  took  arms 
to  prevent  it.  But  she  proved  no  match  in  the  field  for 
Bulgaria,  and  was  only  saved  from  conquest  by  the  interven- 
tion of  the  great  powers.  Rumelia  has  since  remained 
under  the  prince  of  Bulgaria. 

In  1886  the  first  prince  of  Bulgaria,  Alexander  of  Batten- 
berg,  who  proved  to  incline  too  much  to  the  national  party, 
was  forced  by  Russian  intrigues  to  abdicate,  but  Russia  was 
not  strong  enough  to  prevent  the  election  of  Prince  Ferdi- 
nand of  Saxe-Coburg-Gotha  as  his  successor ;  he  accepted 
the  position  without  the  international  sanction  required  by 
the  treaty  of  Berlin,  but  has  proved  himself  able  to  hold  it. 

These  small  Danubian  states  are  constitutional  monarchies, 
modelled  on  that  of  England,  which  are  fairly  well  managed, 
and  are  very  democratic  in  spirit.  They  have  an  intense 
national  feeling,  and  are  extremely  jealous  of  one  another. 
Each  is  eagerly  hoping  for  some  opportunity  for  expansion 
in  the  dissolution  of  the  Turkish  Empire,  and  each  is  watch- 
ing lest  some  one  of  the  others  should  gain  a  premature 
advantage.  What  the  final  outcome  will  be,  still  remains 
as  uncertain  as  ever,  but  it  will  hardly  be  possible  for 
Europe,  once  having  so  clearly  recognized  the  principle  of 
nationality,  to  recede  from  it  in  the  settlement  of  the  future 
of  European  Turkey. 

503.  Later  Phases  of  the  Eastern  Question.  —  After  a  few 
years  pause,  the  Eastern  question  again  advanced  to  a  sharp 
crisis  in  another  part  of  the  Empire.  Turkish  passion  —  the 
passion  of  a  dying  race  taking  vengeance  upon  any  of  the 
races  that  are  surplanting  it  which  it  still  has  in  its  power — 
broke  out  in  fearful  atrocities  against  the  Christian  Armeni- 
ans of  Asia.  The  material  for  the  history  of  this  period  is 
not  yet  accessible,  but  it  seems  evident  that  the  jealousies  of 
the  great  powers  prevented  the  adoption  of  any  effective 
check  on  the  actions  of  the  Turks,  until  their  passion  burned 
itself  out. 


§  5°3]    Later  Phases  of  the  Eastern   Question       485 

Early  in  1897  the  rather  uncalculating  anger  of  the  Greek 
people  forced  that  government  into  a  war  with  Turkey,  which 
proved  in  a  few  weeks  disastrous  to  Greece.  Her  prepara- 
tions were  insufficient,  and  her  troops  though  brave  were 
very  poorly  led.  But  for  the  intervention  of  the  great  powers 
she  would  have  been  obliged  to  agree  to  any  conditions  of 
peace  demanded,  and  as  it  was  the  war  proved  a  very  costly 
experiment. 

The  Eastern  question  seems  on  the  eve  of  leading  to  new 
and  decisive  events,  which  no  one  can  foreshadow.  But  it 
is  only  one  of  the  great  unsettled  problems  in  the  political 
situation  of  the  world  with  which  the  twentieth  century  will 
open,  and  which  seem  about  to  bring  us  very  soon  to  mo- 
mentous issues. 


Topics 

The  three  lines  of  important  changes  in  the  nineteenth  century. 
The  purposes  of  the  Holy  Alliance,  ostensible  and  real.  The  character 
of  the  early  revolutionary  movement.  What  were  the  events  in  Europe 
which  led  to  the  Monroe  Doctrine?  What  led  to  the  "July  revolu- 
tion" in  France?  Its  consequences  in  Europe.  Character  of  the 
reign  of  Louis  Philippe.  The  causes  and  character  of  the  Revolution 
of  1848.  The  socialistic  experiment  and  its  outcome.  The  revolution 
in  Austria.  In  Italy.  The  new  policy  of  the  House  of  Savoy.  The 
movement  in  Germany.  Attitude  of  the  king  of  Prussia.  Russia's 
policy  towards  free  government.  How  was  the  second  Empire  estab- 
lished? The  union  of  the  cause  of  free  government  with  that  of 
nationality.  Treatment  of  the  national  idea  by  the  Congress  of  Vienna. 
The  Greek  war  of  independence.  The  independence  of  Belgium.  The 
failure  in  1848.  The  Zollverein.  The  Italian  policy  of  Cavour.  How 
did  he  win  France?  The  formation  of  the  kingdom  of  Italy.  The 
new  policy  of  Prussia.  The  attitude  of  William  and  Bismarck  towards 
the  constitution.  Prussia's  first  step  —  the  quarrel  with  Denmark. 
Why  was  war  with  Austria  necessary?  How  was  it  brought  about? 
The  character  of  the  war.  The  new  German  confederation.  Changes 
produced  in  the  Austrian  Empire.  What  advantages  to  the  cause  of 
constitutional  government  in  Italy,  Austria,  and  Germany?  Why  was 
Napoleon  III.  willing  for  a  war  with  Germany?  Why  was  Prussia  also 
willing?  What  was  the  pretext  for  the  war?  How  was  France  dis- 
appointed ?     The  events  of  the  war.     What  change  of  government  in 


486  Europe  since  1815 

France?  In  Germany?  The  terms  of  peace.  The  Alsace-Lorraine 
question.  The  constitution  and  condition  of  the  third  Republic  in 
France.  In  what  circumstances  did  the  Eastern  question  first  arise? 
What  is  the  real  question,  and  why  is  it  difficult?  Mehemet  AH,  his 
plans  and  their  outcome.  The  plans  of  Nicholas  I.  The  allies  in  the 
Crimean  War.  The  settlement  at  its  close.  The  war  of  1877.  The 
treaty  of  Berlin.  The  recent  history  of  Bulgaria.  The  situation  at  the 
close  of  the  nineteenth  century.  What  advantages  to  the  principles  of 
nationality  and  of  free  government  from  the  changes  in  Turkey  ? 

Topics  for  Assigned  Studies 

European  politics  and  the  Monroe  Doctrine.     Fyffe,  Europe,  Chap.  XIV. 

Muller,  Recent  Times,  23-62.     Am.  Hist.  Leaf.,  No.  4.     Old  South, 

No.  56. 
The  Bulgarian  massacres.    Muller,  Recent  Times,  505-517.    McCarthy, 

Our  Own  Times,  II.,  591-595.     Fyffe,  Europe,  in  Chap.  XXV. 


CHAPTER   VII 

ANGLO-SAXON   EXPANSION   AND   THE  GROWTH   OF 
WORLD    POLITICS 


504.  Europe  no  longer  the  Stage  of  History.  —  Tradition- 
ally the  politics  of  the  continent  of  Europe,  the  international 
relations  of  the  great  powers,  are  the  controlling  factors  in 
diplomacy.  Men  find  it  still  difficult  to  believe  that  this  is 
no  longer  so,  but  in  reality  the  nineteenth  century  has 
wrought  a  great  change.  The  interest  of  most  nations  is  now 
turned  far  more  to  other  continents  than  to  Europe.  The 
whole  world  is  now  the  field  of  active  diplomacy,  and  with 
the  vast  improvements  in  means  of  intercommunication  and 
the  transmission  of  news,  the  globe  is  no  larger  than  the  con- 
tinent of  Europe  was  when  the  nineteenth  century  opened. 
Its  remotest  inhabited  parts  are  about  as  easily  reached  and 
controlled  as  the  remotest  portions  of  Europe  a  hundred 
years  ago. 

505.  The  Occupation  of  the  World.  —  Germany,  France, 
and  England  have  divided  Africa  between  them.  Russia 
has  stretched  over  the  whole  of  central  and  northern  Asia. 
English  territory  has  been  greatly  extended  in  southern 
Asia.  At  the  eastern  end  of  that  continent,  Japan  has  sud- 
denly risen  to  be  a  power  of  the  first  rank,  and  there  is  now 
as  much  doubt  and  eager  jealousy  over  the  ultimate  disposi- 
tion to  be  made  of  China  as  there  ever  was  over  that  of 
Turkey.  Off  to  the  south  of  Asia  a  new  English  nation  has 
grown  up  in  Australasia,  soon  to  be  of  the  first  rank,  and 
already  greatly  interested  in  the  settlement  of  Oriental  ques- 
tions. 

487 


The  globe 
now  no 
larger  than 
Europe  in 
1800. 


All  the  great 
powers 
directly 
interested. 


488 


A  nglo-  Sax 01 1  Expansio  n 


[§506 


The  United 
States  a 
world  power. 


World 
politics  the 
work  of 
the  Anglo- 
Saxon. 


Transporta- 
tion. 


Australia 
then  unoccu- 
pied. 
Captain 
Cook. 
Story, 
British 
Empire,  II. 
216-222 ; 
Cassell's 
National 
Library, 
No.  40. 


In  America  the  whole  northern  continent  has  become 
Anglo-Saxon,  and  in  the  last  half  of  the  century  the  United 
States  has  seemed  to  be  developing  a  claim  to  a  controlling 
interest  in  the  South  American  states  which  alone  would 
bring  it  directly  into  the  field  of  world  diplomacy,  but  by  its 
annexation  of  Hawaii,  and  by  the  results  of  its  successful 
war  with  Spain,  the  United  States  has  definitely  taken  its 
place  as  one  of  the  great  powers  of  the  world,  and  will  find 
in  the  end  its  interests  immediately  involved  in  the  settle- 
ment of  some  of  the  Oriental  problems,  both  in  the  disposi- 
tion of  China  and  in  that  of  the  great  island  region  of  the 
south  seas. 

In  this  bringing  of  the  world  under  civilized  control,  and 
making  it  into  a  closely  connected  system  in  which  every 
power  must  play  its  part,  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  has  led. 
Its  expansion  began  indeed  long  before  the  present  century 
and  has  continued  without  a  check,  if  we  leave  the  American 
Revolution  out  of  account,  as  should  be  done  from  the 
present  point  of  view. 

506.  Australia  the  First  Step. —  It  was  the  loss  of  the 
thirteen  colonies,  indeed,  that  led  immediately  to  the  first 
step  of  a  new  expansion.  At  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury it  was  still  believed  that,  in  practice  as  well  as  in 
theory,  the  best  disposition  which  could  be  made  of  the 
criminal  class  was  to  send  them  into  the  colonies  to  begin  life 
over  again.  Up  to  this  time  England  had  used  the  Ameri- 
can colonies  for  this  purpose,  but  she  could  do  so  no  longer. 
It  was  necessary  to  find  a  new  place  of  transportation. 

For  about  thirty  years  both  England  and  France  had  had 
Australia  in  mind.  Captain  Cook  had  visited  the  east  shores 
of  the  island  soon  after  the  conclusion  of  the  Seven  Years' 
War,  and  had  taken  possession  of  the  country,  which  he 
named  New  South  Wales  for  England.  Neither  France  nor 
England  had  made  any  actual  settlement  there,  however, 
up  to  this  time,  and  it  would  very  likely  have  remained  still 
longer  unoccupied,  in  the  rush  of  events  which  followed  the 
French  Revolution,  if  it  had  not  been  for  this  need  on  the 


49Q 


Anglo-Saxon  Expansion         [§§  5°7^  5°8 


The  settle- 
ment of 
Botany  Bay. 
Story, 
British 
Empire,  II. 
223-229. 
Becke, 

A  First  Fleet 
Family 
(novel). 


Expansion  in 

Australia. 

Story, 

British 

Empire, 

Bk.  IV., 

Chap.  IV.; 

Payne, 

Colonies, 

165-176. 


The  place  of 

the  thirteen 

colonies 

filled. 

Tregarthen, 

Australasia 

(Nations)  ; 

Jenks, 

Australian 

Colonies 

(Cambridge 

Hist.  Series). 


Transporta- 
tion 
abandoned. 


part  of  England.     She  determined  to  found  a  new  penal 
colony  and  occupy  a  new  region  at  the  same  time. 

507.  Early  History  of  Australia.  —  Preparations  with  this 
object  in  view  were  almost  immediately  begun  on  the  con- 
clusion of  peace  in  1 783,  and  the  first  expedition  was  sent 
out  in  1787.  This  consisted  of  about  a  thousand  persons, 
the  convicts  and  their  guards  included,  but  there  were  no 
real  colonists  among  them.  It  was  several  years  before  the 
settlement,  known  as  Botany  Bay,  became  anything  more 
than  a  kind  of  open-air  prison,  and  certainly  those  who  de- 
termined upon  the  first  occupation  of  Australia  had  no  vision 
of  the  unparalleled  development  of  the  country  in  a  hundred 
years. 

The  first  step  forward  was  the  introduction  of  grazing, 
especially  of  sheep  raising,  about  twenty  years  after  the 
first  occupation.  This  was  soon  followed  by  the  opening  up 
of  the  interior,  and  by  the  founding  of  new  settlements. 
Tasmania  was  occupied  in  1803.  Victoria  was  settled  in 
1834  and  became  a  part  of  New  South  Wales.  New  Zealand 
was  taken  possession  of  by  a  free  colony  from  England  just 
as  it  was  on  the  point  of  being  occupied  by  the  French  in 
1839.  South  Australia  was  also  founded  by  free  settlers  from 
England  in  1836,  and  West  Australia  in  1829. 

508.  A  New  English  Nation.  —  Before  this  last  date  the 
great  island  continent  had  come  to  take  the  place  once 
held  by  the  American  colonies  as  a  field  for  emigration,  and 
to  be  looked  upon  as  a  future  home  of  one  branch  of  the 
English  race.  About  the  time  of  the  founding  of  these  last 
colonies  a  new  method  of  disposing  of  the  public  lands  was 
adopted,  by  which  they  were  sold  at  good  prices  and  the 
proceeds  used  in  bringing  out  other  settlers.  This  proved 
for  a  time  very  successful,  and  nearly  all  the  colonies  ad- 
vanced rapidly  in  population  and  wealth.  By  1835  tnev 
numbered  together  80,000. 

As  the  free  settlers  became  numerous  and  new  ones  be- 
gan to  come  in  large  numbers,  the  colonies  very  naturally 
began  to  object  to  being  used  any  longer  as  a  dumping- 


§  5°9l        England  in  the  French  Revolution  491 

ground  for  English  criminals.  It  was  not  easy  to  persuade 
the  home  government  to  give  up  this  practice  so  useful  to 
the  mother  country,  and  language  of  considerable  violence 
was  used  in  some  of  the  colonies  before  they  accomplished 
their  purpose,  but  within  a  few  years  transportation  was  given 
up  to  all  the  colonies  except  to  West  Australia,  which  re- 
quested that  criminals  might  still  be  sent  on  account  of  the 
scarcity  of  laborers.     It  was  finally  abandoned  there  in  i860. 

509.   England  in  the  Wars  of  the  French  Revolution.  —  The  danger 
Scarcely  had    the    occupation    of    Australia    begun   when   tothe 
England  was  led  into  the  wars  which  grew  out  of  the  French   F^ce. 
Revolution.     For  her  these  wars,  as  all  wars  had  now  been   Payne, 
for  a  hundred  years,  were  chiefly  colonial  and  commercial    cronies, 
wars.      There    was    some    real    ground    for    fearing    that 
the  new  enthusiasm  of  the  French  nation  might  lead  them 
to  try  to  reconstruct  their  naval  power  and  their  colonial 
empire.     This  became  especially  the  case  when  in   1795 
Holland  was  practically  absorbed  in  the   French  republic. 
This  would  give  them  at  once  a  considerable  reenforcement 
of  their  navy  and  a  most  valuable  foundation  of  empire  in 
the  East  Indies.     England  at  once  blockaded  the  Dutch 
fleet,  and  with  quick  blows  took  possession  of  most  of  the 
Dutch  and  French  colonies,  including  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope  and  Ceylon. 

The  danger  became  still  more  acute  on  Bonaparte's  occu-   Bonaparte 
pation  of  Egypt.     Could  he  succeed  in  establishing  a  strong   m  EsyPx- 
French  power  there,  England's  hold  upon  India  would  be  at 
once  shaken.     But  the  fatal  weakness  of  his  plans  was  that 
he  could  not  command  the  sea.     Nelson's  victory  in  the 
battle  of  the  Nile  shut  him  up  as  closely  as  if  he  were  on  an 
island,  and  it  was  by  good  fortune  only  that  he  got  back  to 
France  at  all.     The  war  in  India  in  which  he  had  hoped   Expansion 
that  Tippoo  Sahib  with  French  aid  would  overthrow  the  Eng-   gj"^' 
lish  was  not  successful,  though  it  was  no  easy  task  to  bring  British 
it  to  an  end.     It  served  rather  to  extend  the  British  domin-   Empire,  II. 
ion.     Here  it  was  that  Wellington  as  a  young  officer  served   242"253" 
his  apprenticeship  in  the  art  of  war.     In  a  series  of  wars 


492 


Anglo-Saxon  Expansion         [§§5IO-511 


England's 
conquests 
surrendered. 


Napoleon 
saw  the 
importance 
of  colonial 
power. 


Napoleon 

determines 

to  occupy 

Louisiana 

and  the 

Northwest. 

Adams, 

History 

United 

States 

(Scribner), 

I.,  Chaps. 

XIV.-XVII. 


The 

Louisiana 
purchase, 
1803. 


before  the  fall  of  Napoleon  the  strong  Mahratta  tribes  of 
south  central  India  were  subdued  and  the  Empire  greatly 
enlarged  and  strengthened. 

In  the  peace  of  Amiens,  in  1802,  England  showed  that  she 
had  looked  upon  the  war  as  chiefly  a  defensive  one,  for  of 
all  her  extensive  conquests,  of  which  she  could  have  kept 
anything  that  she  pleased,  she  retained  only  Ceylon  from 
Holland,  and  the  West  India  island  of  Trinidad  from  Spain. 

510.  Napoleon's  Attempt  at  Colonial  Empire.  — Napoleon 
appears  to  have  realized  that  France  could  become  perma- 
nently the  leader  of  the  world  only  by  a  reconstruction  of 
her  colonial  empire.  He  realized  also  that  the  greatest 
obstacle  in  the  way  was  the  power  of  England.  England, 
on  her  side,  saw  the  great  danger  with  which  she  was  threat- 
ened by  the  genius  of  Napoleon.  As  a  natural  result  they 
were  irreconcilable  enemies.  When  the  war  opened  once 
more,  in  less  than  two  years  after  the  peace  of  Amiens,  it 
never  paused  again  between  them  though  all  other  nations 
made  peace. 

The  second  attempt  which  Napoleon  made  in  the  direc- 
tion of  colonial  dominion,  immediately  after  this  peace  of 
Amiens  was  concluded,  was  a  most  promising  one,  and  it 
threatened  the  American  half  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  with 
as  serious  a  danger  as  the  English.  His  recovery  of  Louisi- 
ana from  Spain,  and  his  attempt  to  obtain  in  San  Domingo 
a  base  of  operations  for  its  occupation  and  colonization, 
seemed  about  to  be  successful.  But  the  first  expedition  was 
fatally  weakened  by  the  yellow  fever,  and  the  immediate 
breaking  out  of  the  European  war  prevented  any  renewal 
of  the  attempt.  It  led,  however,  indirectly,  to  one  of  the 
greatest  extensions  of  Anglo-Saxon  territory  made  during 
the  century. 

511.  The  Expansion  of  the  United  States.  —  The  United 
States  was  more  immediately  interested  in  the  growth  of  a 
great  French  dominion  west  of  the  Mississippi  than  England 
even.  Before  the  practical  failure  of  the  attempt  was  known, 
the  plans  of  Bonaparte  had  aroused  some  excitement,  and 


§  5I21  Expansion  of  the  United  States 


493 


steps  to  protect  American  interests  had  been  determined 
upon.  Bonaparte  seems  to  have  known,  however,  that  to 
keep  this  territory  in  the  hands  of  France  after  the  war 
began  was  simply  to  make  a  present  of  it  to  England,  since 
there  was  no  French  naval  force  to  protect  it,  and  conse- 
quently the  American  envoys  to  Paris  found  him  willing  to 
sell  it  all  to  the  United  States  as  if  he  supposed  her  to  be 
as  great  an  enemy  of  England  as  himself.  The  bargain 
was  soon  made.  The  enormous  advantages  offered,  and 
the  inborn  Anglo-Saxon  trait  of  acquisitiveness  overruled  the 
constitutional  objection  of  no  power  expressly  granted  the 
general  government  to  make  annexations,  although  the  party 
of  strict  construction  was  in  power,  and  the  area  of  the 
United  States  was  doubled. 

Already  the  United  States  had  become  a  great  colonizing 
nation.  Settlement  after  settlement  had  been  made  in  the 
region  beyond  the  Alleghanies.  In  the  northwest  ordinance 
of  1787,  for  the  government  of  territories  and  their  admis- 
sion into  the  Union  on  the  same  footing  as  the  original 
states,  a  most  wise  arrangement  had  been  adopted  for  the 
management  of  colonies  and  the  securing  of  their  allegiance 
to  the  home  country.  Already  by  the  time  of  the  Louisiana 
purchase,  four  new  states  had  come  into  the  Union  and 
others  rapidly  followed.  Not  long  afterwards  a  second  im- 
portant annexation  was  made  in  the  purchase  of  Florida 
from  Spain,  a  sale  to  which  Spain  was  practically  forced  by 
methods  of  a  somewhat  unneighborly  character. 

512.  The  English  Empire  in  the  Napoleonic  Period. —  In 
the  war  which  began  in  1803  between  England  and  Napoleon, 
the  occurrences  of  the  earlier  war  were  repeated.  England 
took  possession  of  the  French  and  Dutch  colonies,  and  main- 
tained an  indisputable  command  of  all  oceans.  The  short  and 
indecisive  war  which  was  fought  during  this  period  between 
England  and  the  United  States,  growing  out  of  the  harshness 
with  which  England,  exercised  the  rights  which  she  claimed 
over  neutral  commerce  and  to  the  compulsory  service  of 
her   own  seamen   wherever   found,  though  it  showed   the 


Florida, 
1819. 


England 
supreme  on 
the  sea. 


The  War 
of  1812. 


494 


Anglo-Saxon  Expansion 


[§512 


English 
annexations 
in  1815. 


American  navy  to  be  worthy  of  its  parentage,  served  only  to 
perpetuate  and  intensify  the  bitterness  of  feeling  between 
the  two  nations.  In  this  respect  the  United  States  was  serv- 
ing well  the  purposes  of  Napoleon. 

At  the  close  of  the  war,  England  retained  in  addition  to 
her  annexations  at  the  peace  of  Amiens,  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope,   a  part  of  Dutch   Guiana,   and  a  few  small   French 


DURRAN.    N  \1  A  I. 


Story, 
Ihitish 
Umpire,  II., 
304-317. 

The  impor- 
tance of  the 
Cape 
Colony. 
Lucas, 
Historical 


islands.     For  the  territories  taken  from  Holland,  England 
made  a  large  payment  in  compensation. 

Of  all  the  gains  of  England  since  the  occupation  of  Aus- 
tralia, the  Cape  Colony  was  by  far  the  most  important. 
Holding  a  strategic  position  unequalled  by  any  other  land  in 
the  world,  commanding  the  passage  from  the  Atlantic  to  the 
Indian  Ocean,  a  vitally  necessary  connecting  link  in  a  world 
empire,  a  half-way  house  between  England  and  both  India 


§513] 


The  Expansion  of  Canada 


495 


and  Australia  most  conveniently  situated  for  supplying  and  re- 
fitting ships,  and,  finally  but  by  no  means  the  least  important, 
an  opening  which  would  render  easy  the  occupation  of  the 
best  portions  of  the  continent  behind  it,  the  colony  was  of  far 
greater  value  than  its  area  indicated  or  its  stage  of  develop- 
ment at  the  time. 

513.  The  Expansion  of  Canada.  —  During  these  years  the 
population  of  Canada  had  steadily  increased,  though  not 
with  the  phenomenal  rapidity  of  Australia  or  the  United 
States.  As  a  result  of  the  American  Revolution  there  was 
a  large  immigration  of  families  devoted  to  the  old  govern- 
ment, known  at  the  time  as  United  Empire  Loyalists. 
Slowly,  also,  Canada  began  to  attract  immigrants  from  Great 
Britain,  and  these  were  usually  of  a  very  good  class.  By 
18 1 5  there  was  a  European  population  in  British  North 
America  of  about  half  a  million. 

As  the  English  population  and  the  wealth  of  the  country 
increased  an  agitation  began  to  secure  more  complete  self- 
government.  A  constitution  had  been  granted  Canada  in 
1 79 1  by  the  ministry  of  the  younger  Pitt  which  was  based 
on  the  English  constitution  of  the  time.  In  imitation  of  the 
monarchical  and  aristocratic  elements  in  the  government  of 
England,  which  were  then  in  supreme  control,  the  power 
in  Canada  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  governor  sent  by 
the  cabinet  in  London  and  in  an  appointive  upper  house. 
As  the  English  at  home  were  at  this  time  hardly  conscious 
of  the  principle  of  ministerial  responsibility  to  Parliament, 
as  they  came  to  be  fifty  years  later,  there  was  no  suggestion 
made  that  this  practice  should  be  allowed  in  Canada. 

The  debate  in  Parliament  upon  the  grant  shows  that  it 
was  the  conscious  intention  of  everybody  to  create  an  aristo- 
cratic government  for  these  colonies,  and  this  the  bill  cer- 
tainly did.  There  was  clear  evidence  in  the  history  of  the 
earlier  English  colonies  in  America  to  show  that  such  a  gov- 
ernment would  result  in  serious  discontent  and  strife.  But 
those  who  framed  and  discussed  this  bill  do  not  seem  to  have 
thought  of  referring  to  colonial  experience  for  instruction. 


Geography, 
IV.;  Theal, 
South  Africa 
(Nations). 


Slow  but 

steady 

growth. 

Bourinot, 

Canada 

(Nations). 


The  govern- 
ment of 
Canada. 
Roberts, 
History  of 
Canada 
(Lamson), 
210-213. 


An  aristo- 
cratic 
government. 


496 


Anglo-Saxon  Expansion         [§§  5'4>  5*5 


A  thirty 

years' 

conflict. 

Roberts, 

Canada, 

Chaps. 

XVlII.and 

XIX. 


The  English 
government 
afraid  of  the 
conse- 
quences. 


The  Cana- 
dians win 
their  cause 
by  gradual 
steps. 
Roberts, 
Canada, 
Chap.  XX. 


514.  The  Struggle  for  Self-government.  — The  conflict  to 
secure  a  change  began  in  less  than  twenty  years  after  the 
framing  of  the  government,  and  it  continued  for  thirty  years 
before  it  was  successful.  The  ultimate  object  aimed  at  was 
the  control  of  the  government  by  the  lower  house  of  the  legis- 
lature, the  immediate  representatives  of  the  people.  In 
character  it  resembles  in  an  interesting  way  the  much  longer 
struggle  in  the  old  country  to  secure  the  same  result,  and 
also  that  in  both  earlier  and  later  English  colonies  where  the 
same  thing  had  to  be  done.  The  chief  weapon  employed 
until  near  the  close  of  the  conflict  was  the  old  constitutional 
expedient  of  withholding  the  supplies,  and  trying  to  coerce 
the  government  through  its  financial  needs. 

The  government  in  England,  whether  the  Tory  party  or 
the  Whig  was  in  office,  was  extremely  reluctant  to  make  the 
changes  desired.  The  first  effect  of  the  American  Revolu- 
tion upon  the  ruling  class  in  England  had  been  to  create  a 
fear  of  independence  in  the  case  of  their  other  colonies,  and 
to  lead  to  a  resolve  to  hold  them  in,  politically,  with  as  tight  a 
rein  as  possible.  As  the  agitation  in  Canada  increased,  this 
fear  was  repeatedly  expressed  by  the  leaders  of  both  parties. 
To  yield  to  their  demands  would,  it  was  thought,  only  lead 
to  other  demands  and  to  final  independence.  There  was  at 
that  time  very  little  understanding  in  England,  even  among 
the  officers  directly  connected  with  the  colonial  department,  of 
the  conditions  or  feelings  of  the  colonists,  and  in  view  of  this 
ignorance  their  fear  of  the  result  of  yielding  was  not  unnatural. 

515.  Canada  opens  the  Way  for  Colonial  Self-govern- 
ment.—  In  1837  came  the  appeal  of  a  part  of  the  Cana- 
dians to  arms.  The  rebellion  was  soon  put  down,  but  it 
made  an  impression  in  England.  In  the  next  year  Lord 
Durham  was  sent  out  to  make  a  careful  examination  of  the 
situation.  His  report  was  published  early  in  1839,  and  is 
a  most  remarkable  document.  It  had  a  large  share  in 
bringing  about  the  great  revolution  in  English  public  opinion 
regarding  the  colonies  which  takes  place  in  the  next  twenty 
years.      By  1840  the  home  government  had  become  con- 


§  5l6J       A   Great  Change  in  English  Methods       497 

vinced  that  the  effect  of  granting  concessions  could  not  be 
worse  than  that  of  withholding  them,  and  concessions  ac- 
cordingly began.  These  led  in  a  few  years  to  full  ministe- 
rial responsibility  and  to  all  the  colonists  had  desired,  and 
England  quickly  discovered  that  instead  of  independence 
there  resulted  a  deeper  and  truer  loyalty. 

516.    A  Great  Change  in  English  Methods  of  Colonial  Gov-  Complete 
ernment.  — This  was  the  beginning  of  a  great  revolution  in    ^dence  in 
English  colonial  government  which  is  one  of  the  most  re-  the  great 
markable  facts  of  the  history  of  the  nineteenth  century.     The  colonies, 
revolution  was  not  wrought  at  once.     Ten  years  later  the  introduction 
Australian   colonies  found  some  of  the  old   difficulties   in  118-137. 
the  way  of  their  securing  full  self-government,  but  they  were 
far  more  easily  overcome.     Ten  years  later  still  the  change 
was   complete.     Since  then  England  has  cordially  granted 
complete  local  independence  to  every  colony  when  it  reaches 
a  stage  of  development  in  which  it  can  wisely  exercise  it. 
The   Australian   colonies   and  New  Zealand,  Cape  Colony 
and  the  Dominion  of  Canada,  are,  for  almost  all  purposes, 
as  independent  as  the  United  States.     Their  subjection  to 
the  home  government  in  foreign  affairs,  the  chief  item  in 
which  they  are  not  independent,  has  been  of  great  advan- 
tage to  them  both  in  actual  protection  and  in  saving  the 
cost  of  preparations  for  national  defence. 

The  causes  of  this  important  revolution  are  more  than  The  causes 
one.     It  has  been  erroneously  attributed  to  the  influence  °*this 

change. 

of  the  American  Revolution,  but  a  study  of  the  Canadian  Adams, 
struggle  shows  clearly  that  the  effect  of  the  independence  of  ReP*>  **»• 
the  thirteen  colonies  was  rather  the  opposite.     The  chief  l8*V  j  ssn" 
cause  was  no  doubt  the  discovery  that  the  grant  of  local  self-  373-389. 
government  did  not  result  in  independence,  but  rather  in 
strengthening  the  real  bonds  of  connection.     This  cause  was 
greatly  aided  by  the  adoption  of  free  trade  in  commerce,  by 
the  rapid  growth  of  democratic  sentiment,  by  a  more  general 
popular  interest  in  colonial  affairs  and  understanding  of  them, 
and  finally  after  the  change  had  begun  by  a  more  correct 
reasoning  about  the  American  Revolution. 

2K 


498 


Anglo-Saxon  Expansion        [If  5*7,  5l8 


Texas  and 
the  Mexican 
War. 


One-third  the 
United  States 
annexed, 

1848. 


The  dis- 
coveries of 
gold, 

1848-1851. 
Story, 
British 
Empire, 
Bk.  IV., 
Chap.  VII. 


517.  A  Second  Great  Annexation  by  the  United  States. — 
At  just  about  the  time  when  this  change  began  in  England's 
method  of  governing  her  colonies,  when  the  Canadian  peo- 
ple secured  control  of  their  government,  the  United  States 
made  a  second  great  annexation  of  territory.  The  Mexican 
state  of  Texas  had  received  a  considerable  immigration  from 
the  neighboring  states  of  the  Union.  In  1835  it  declared 
its  independence  of  Mexico  and  was  soon  after  admitted 
into  the  Union.  Then  arose  the  question  of  the  correct 
boundary  line  between  Texas  and  Mexico,  and  this  disagree- 
ment was  pushed  on  rapidly  to  open  war,  as  we  now  know, 
with  deliberate  intention  on  the  part  of  the  American  leaders 
in  the  hope  of  conquest. 

The  war  was  soon  decided.  Mexico  had  no  power  of 
resistance  either  in  army  or  resources.  In  the  end  she  ceded 
to  the  United  States  her  northern  territories,  down  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Rio  Grande  and  to  the  head  of  the  Gulf  of 
California,  an  area,  if  Texas  be  included,  equal  to  one-third 
the  present  United  States.  The  result  was  no  doubt  of  the 
greatest  value  to  the  territories  in  question  and  to  civiliza- 
tion in  general,  but  it  should  be  remembered  that  the  process 
did  not  differ  materially  from  that  which  we  are  disposed  to 
criticise  when  employed  by  other  strong  peoples  in  absorb- 
ing the  lands  of  their  weaker  neighbors. 

518.  Gold  in  California  and  Australia.  —  Hardly  was  the 
Mexican  War  concluded,  and  this  great  territory  transferred 
from  the  Latin  to  the  Anglo-Saxon  race,  when  there  came 
the  rich  discoveries  of  gold  in  California  in  1848.  These 
were  followed  three  years  later  still  by  similar  discoveries  in 
Australia.  The  result  in  both  countries  was  the  same,  —  an 
era  of  enormously  rapid  increase  of  population  and  of  wealth, 
—  for  although  many  of  the  miners  returned  to  their  old  homes 
taking  their  gold  with  them,  a  large  proportion  remained  in 
the  country  and  aided  in  its  development  in  other  directions 
with  the  products  of  their  mining. 

The  population  of  Victoria,  in  which  the  best  mines  were 
situated,  more  than  doubled  in  two  years,  and  was  multiplied 


§  5X9]        A    Theory  of  Imperial  Dissolution  499 

by  four  in  four  years.     In  California  the  same  increase  took  Unparalleled 
place,  and,  though  this  rate  could  not  be  maintained,  the  next  increase  of 
thirty  years  saw  a  development  of  population  and  wealth  in  the  andweanh. 
western  regions  of  the  Union  and  in  Australasia  unparalleled 
in  history.     In  1861  Australasia  had  a  population  of  thirteen 


Sutter's  Mill 

Where  gold  was  first  discovered  in  California 


hundred  thousand.     In  1891  this  had  grown  to  almost  four 

millions.     Since  1 89 1  both  these  countries  have  suffered  from 

financial  depression  and  growth  has  been  more  slow.     As 

the  century  closes  signs  are  evident  of  returning  prosperity. 

519.    A  Theory  of  Imperial  Dissolution.  —  About  the  year  The  argu- 

1870  a  new  era  opened  in  the  history  of  the  British  Empire.   "!ent,fo!f 
•      1         •  i     •  •  1    <•   i         -i  dissolution 

At  that  time  a  movement  towards  imperial  federation  began 


5oo 


Anglo-Saxon  Expansion 


C20 


leads  to  the 
idea  of 
federation. 


The 

Manchester 

school. 

Cobden, 

Speeches,  I., 

486. 


Goldwin 

Smith, 

The  Empire 

(Lond.). 


The  Liberals 
rather  dis- 
posed to 
hasten  the 
dissolution, 
1869. 


which  has  not  as  yet  led  to  the  exact  result  intended,  b. 
led  to  others  of  hardly  less  importance.     It  began  as 
action  against  theories  of  a  contrary  sort.     The  generate 
English  statesmen,  who  then  had  charge  of  public  affairs,  had 
been  brought  up  in  the  idea  that  all  the  colonies  were  des- 
tined to  eventual  independence,  and  could  only  be  retained 
by  England  up  to  a  certain  stage  of  development.     The 
growth  of  this  idea  had  been  much  encouraged  by  the  teach- 
ings of  the  Manchester  school  of  political  economists,  under 
the  lead  of  Richard  Cobden. 

The  fundamental  principle  of  this  school  was  complete 
freedom  from  government  interference  in  every  direction. 
As  applied  to  the  colonies  this  meant  liberty  to  sever  their 
connection  with  England  whenever  they  should  think  their 
interests  demanded  the  separation,  with  no  resistance  or  ob- 
jection on  the  part  of  the  home  government.  Cobden  had 
taught,  indeed,  that  the  care  of  the  colonies  was  far  too  ex- 
pensive a  burden  to  be  borne,  and  that  whatever  advantage 
was  derived  from  them  would  not  be  lost  when  England's 
active  assistance  was  withdrawn  from  them.  This  teaching 
was  greatly  reenforced  about  1 860,  and  extended  to  an  argu- 
ment for  the  breaking  of  all  political  connection  by  a  series 
of  most  vigorous  and  effective  letters  to  a  London  daily 
paper  from  Professor  Goldwin  Smith  of  Oxford,  immedi- 
ately collected  into  a  book. 

520.  Gladstone's  Ministry  ready  to  let  the  Colonies  go. 
— These  ideas  had  an  especial  influence  upon  the  leaders  of 
the  Liberal  party  who  were  in  power  under  Mr.  Gladstone 
from  1868  on.  Their  practical  effect  was  to  make  the  gov- 
ernment entirely  indifferent  to  a  breaking  off  of  the  political 
connection  between  the  mother  country  and  the  colonies,  if 
not  willing  to  bring  it  about.  This  feeling  was  plainly  enough 
indicated  by  the  ministry  to  New  Zealand,  South  Africa,  and 
Canada.  On  the  other  hand,  the  colonies  were  not  in  the 
least  disposed  to  seek  independence  or  to  be  forced  into  it, 
and  some  of  them  threatened  to  seek  the  protection  of  the 
United  States,  should  England  refuse  hers. 


§  521 .       The  Imperial  Federation  Movement  501 

8  feeling  of  the  colonies  was,  however,  speedily  reflected  The  coionie 
e  feeling  in  England,  and  the  mass  of  the  people  soon 
j  it  evident  that  the  current  theories  no  more  repre- 
»s»*i  M  their  opinion  than  they  did  colonial  opinion.  There 
was  no  desire  on  the  part  of  the  nation  to  force  the  colonies 
into  an  unwilling  independence;  the  desire  was  rather  to 
draw  the  bonds  of  union  closer  if  this  could  be  done  in  any 
wise  way.  The  government  reversed  its  action  as  soon  as  See  leader, 
the  nature  of  public  opinion  became  evident,  and  the  crisis,   London 

L  ...,..-  -  ,  Spectator, 

which  had  been  sharp  for  a  few  weeks,  was  over.  May  21, 1870 

521.  The   Imperial   Federation  Movement.  —  Out  of  the  First  definit< 

feeling  excited  at  this  time  grew  the  Imperial  Federation  proposal. 

Movement.     The  first  definite  proposal  of  such  an  organi-  ^^ontem' 

zation  for    the   Empire  was   made    early  in    1870,  just   as  Review,  Jan 

the  ministry  was  changing  its  policy.     The  progress  of  the  and  APr- 
movement  was  at  first  slow.     It  was  five  years  before  the      7°* 
idea  was  taken  up  by  any  statesman  of  prominence.     About 
1880  it  began  to  make  converts  more  rapidly,  owing  to  a 
variety  of  disasters  which   seemed   to   be   threatening  the 
English  dominion  in  different  parts  of  the  world. 

In  1884  the  Imperial  Federation  League  was  organized  The 

in  England,  having  among  its  officers  and  members  many  ImPenal 

-,,,,.,,  ,r.     .  .  ,    r  J     Federation 

of  the  leaders  of  both  political  parties,  and  for  its  purpose  League, 
the  promotion  of  such  a  union  of  the  mother  country  and 
her  colonies.  After  attracting  wide  attention  to  the  subject, 
and  publishing  a  considerable  literature  in  its  favor,  the 
League  was  disbanded  in  1893  in  favor  of  other  methods  of 
advancing  the  cause. 

In  the  colonies  the  movement  never  has  found  even  so 
much  support  as  at  home,  and  the  practical  objections  to 
any  actual  imperial  federation  seem  at  present  insuperable. 
But  there  has  undoubtedly  resulted  a  much  greater  general 
interest  in  the  imperial  connection,  and  a  far  better  under- 
standing at  home  of  the  colonial  feeling  and  in  the  colonies 
of  the  home  feeling.  The  bond  of  connection  is  known  to 
be  much  stronger  than  was  once  believed,  and  no  one  now 
looks  forward  to  a  time  of  certain  colonial  independence. 


502 


Anglo-Saxon  Expansion         [§§  522'  523 


The  occupa- 
tion of  Asia 
and  Africa. 


Gradual 
expansion 
in  India. 
Frazer, 
British  India 
(Nations). 

The  Sepoy 
mutiny,  1857. 
Steel, 

On  the  Face 
ofthe 
Waters; 
Chesney, 
The 

Dilemma 
(novels). 


The 

"scientific 

frontier." 


On  the  whole 
in  the  native 
interest. 
Frazer, 
British  India, 
Chap.  XVI. 


522.  Expansion  of  English  Dominion  in  India.  —  While 
these  events  were  taking  place  in  the  purely  Anglo-Saxon 
world,  the  two  largest  of  continents,  which  until  the  nine- 
teenth century  had  lain  nearly  always  outside  the  current  of 
history,  had  been  opened  up  to  European  enterprise,  and 
almost  entirely  seized  upon  by  the  different  European  states 
in  their  rivalry  for  colonial  empire. 

The  occupation  of  Asia  was  the  first  to  begin.  At  the 
opening  of  the  century  England  already  had  the  possession 
of  India  well  begun,  and  Russia  had  Siberia  in  the  north. 
After  the  conquests  made  during  the  Napoleonic  wars,  small 
additions  continued  to  be  made  to  British  territory  in  India, 
the  most  important  being  that  of  the  Punjaub  just  before  the 
middle  of  the  century.  In  1857  came  the  great  Sepoy 
mutiny  in  north  central  India,  due  partly  to  dislike  of  the 
British  rule,  of  whose  good  effects  the  natives  were  as  yet 
hardly  conscious,  and  which  was  indeed  often  unnecessarily 
harsh,  partly  to  superstitious  dislike  of  the  greasy  cartridges 
served  to  the  troops  and  partly  to  ambitious  intrigues  of 
rulers  not  reconciled  to  the  loss  of  irresponsible  power. 
The  early  stages  of  the  mutiny,  before  the  English  could 
organize  defence  or  attack,  are  filled  with  horrors ;  but  it  was 
overcome  in  a  few  months  after  the  first  surprise  had  passed. 

In  more  recent  times  the  fear  occasioned  by  the  steady 
advance  of  the  Russians  in  central  Asia,  has  led  to  a  gradual 
extension  of  the  English  occupation  to  the  north  and  west, 
in  the  search  for  a  "  scientific  frontier,"  that  is  one  which 
will  admit  of  easy  defence  against  attack.  To  protect  the 
exposed  western  flank,  the  large  territory  of  Baluchistan  has 
been  occupied,  so  that  now  England  controls  all  central 
Asia  south  of  Persia,  Afghanistan,  and  China. 

523.  The  Character  of  the  English  Government  of  India.  — 
The  British  rule  in  India,  though  marked  by  cases  of  ex- 
treme selfishness  and  of  harsh  and  overbearing  conduct  on 
the  part  of  individuals,  especially  in  its  earlier  periods,  is  on 
the  whole  and  in  its  general  results  the  most  remarkable 
case  in  modern  history,  if  not  in  the  whole  history  of  the 


§§  524,  525] 


The  Results  in  Asia 


503 


world,  of  the  wise  and  considerate  administration  of  a  sub- 
ject country  in  the  best  interests  of  the  native  population. 
The  most  intelligent  of  the  natives  are  coming  to  recognize 
this  more  and  more,  and  there  is  now  forming  in  India  a 
feeling  of  patriotism  and  loyalty  to  the  Empire  which  prom- 
ises the  most  happy  results,  if  the  swift  progress  of  events 
allows  it  time  to  strengthen  itself  as  it  should. 

524.  Russian  Expansion  in  Asia.  —  From  very  early  times 
the  Russians  have  possessed  dominion  over  the  north  of  Asia. 
Siberia  formed  a  part  of  the  empire  of  Peter  the  Great,  and 
his  plans  of  conquest  included  Asia.  The  Russian  advance 
has  been  steady  for  two  centuries,  though  much  more  rapid 
in  recent  times.  Even  before  the  time  of  Napoleon  the 
Russians  began  to  consider  the  possibility  of  striking  Eng- 
land a  hard  blow  through  India,  in  case  of  a  war  between 
the  two  countries,  and  twice  during  the  Napoleonic  wars  the 
project  was  seriously  discussed,  and  once  an  army  was  actu- 
ally started  to  begin  the  invasion. 

Although  the  Russian  occupation  of  central  Asia  seems  on 
the  surface  to  have  been  often  the  result  of  accident,  and  of 
the  irresponsible  action  of  military  officers,  there  is  perfectly 
evident  behind  all  the  systematic  purpose  of  the  government. 
The  action  of  the  officer  in  the  field  may  be  disavowed,  but 
the  annexation  which  he  makes  is  always  preserved.  Very 
possibly  the  desire  of  conquest  has  had  less  to  do  with  this 
than  two  other  reasons,  —  the  natural  tendency  of  every  great 
empire  to  expand,  and  the  military  purpose  of  getting  within 
striking  distance  of  India.  With  the  authorities  in  the  field 
and  in  the  government  directly  concerned  with  the  adminis- 
tration of  Asia,  this  last  has  probably  been  the  most  influen- 
tial motive. 

525.  The  Results  in  Asia.  —  All  central  and  northern  Asia 
is  now  Russian.  China,  Afghanistan,  and  Persia  are  the  only 
independent  territories  remaining  between  the  two  European 
empires.  Since  the  recent  annexation  of  the  Pamir  district 
by  Russia,  there  is  at  that  point  only  a  very  narrow  strip  of 
neutral  land,  which  belongs   to    Afghanistan,  between   the 


mans). 


504 


Anglo-Saxon  Expansion         [§§  526>  527 


The  problem 
now  more 
complicated. 


The  work 

of  twenty 

years. 

Keltie, 

The  Partition 

of  Africa 

(Lond.). 

Explorations. 


The  Congo 
Free  State. 
Keltie, 
Partition, 
Chap.  XIV. 

France. 


rival  frontiers.  The  struggle  of  these  great  powers  in  Asia 
threatens  the  continued  existence  of  Persia  and  Afghanistan, 
and  even  of  China,  as  the  most  recent  events  show. 

The  entry  of  other  European  nations  into  the  rivalry  in 
the  further  Orient,  like  France  and  Germany,  and  the  sudden 
rise  of  Japan  to  a  position  of  the  first  rank,  with  especial  in- 
terest in  the  solution  which  is  to  be  found  for  this  far  Eastern 
question,  are  only  likely  to  push  events  with  greater  rapidity, 
and  to  lead  to  less  satisfactory  and  less  permanent  results 
than  would  be  produced  by  a  more  moderate  procedure. 

526.  The  Occupation  of  Africa.  —  In  the  occupation  of  Africa 
the  rivals  of  the  English  have  been  the  Germans  and  the  French, 
and  the  greater  part  of  the  process  has  taken  less  than  twenty 
years.  Neither  the  conquest  of  the  Cape  Colony  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  century,  nor  that  of  Algiers  by  the  French  about 
thirty  years  later,  was  followed  by  any  noteworthy  expansion. 
In  the  third  quarter  of  the  century  general  interest  in  the 
"  dark  continent "  was  aroused  by  numerous  expeditions  for 
scientific  explorations,  for  which  the  name  of  Livingstone 
especially  stands  ;  but  these  led  to  no  further  results  until 
Stanley's  famous  journey  across  the  continent  from  east  to 
west,  which  laid  open  the  course  of  the  Congo  River  as  a 
great  highway  into  the  interior.  This  awakened  the  eager 
desire  of  several  European  states  to  get  possession  of  the 
commercial  advantages  which  the  control  of  this  river  would 
insure,  and  finally,  as  a  kind  of  compromise,  to  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  Congo  Free  State,  open  to  the  commerce  of 
the  world,  but  under  the  sovereignty  of  the  king  of  the 
Belgians. 

527.  The  General  Scramble.  — This  was  in  the  year  1884, 
but  in  the  meantime  the  general  scramble  had  begun. 
France  made  the  first  move  in  the  expedition  of  De  Brazza 
in  1880  and  1881,  by  which  a  large  territory  on  the  north 
bank  of  the  Congo  was  taken  possession  of  so  effectively 
that  it  was  recognized  as  French  when  the  Congo  Free  State 
was  organized.  Germany  followed  immediately  the  exam- 
ple thus  set.     In  1883  some  Germans  who  were  nominally 


§  5 28]         The  English  Occupation  of  Egypt  505 

private  adventurers  seized  a  portion  of  the  coast  in  south-   Germany. 
western  Africa,  and  this  was  in  a  few  months  developed  into   Keltle» 

„.  ....  Partition, 

a  German  protectorate  over  an  extensive  territory  in  that  chap.  XII. 
region.  This  part  of  Africa  had  always  been  regarded  by 
the  English  colonists  of  the  Cape  as  within  their  proper  con- 
trol, but  the  home  government  had  steadily  refused  the  re- 
quests of  the  colony  to  annex  it  formally,  and  now  proved 
unwilling  to  sustain  the  colonists  against  the  claims  of  Ger- 
many. 

These  cases  illustrate  the  methods  followed  by  all  the  na-   Africa  now 
tions  of  Europe  from  this  time  on.     Germany  settled  in  the  nearly  a11 

i  r     1  111  occupied. 

same  way  upon  several  points  of  the  coast,  on  both  the  east 
and  west  sides  of  the  continent.  France  formed  and  has 
steadily  followed  the  plan  of  connecting  her  various  colonies 
by  means  of  annexations  in  the  interior.  England  pushed 
rapidly  north  from  the  Cape  Colony  until  she  now  has  pos- 
session of  all  the  best  portions  of  the  interior,  and  she  also 
considerably  enlarged  both  her  west  and  east  African  terri- 
tories. Italy  saw  with  jealousy  but  was  not  able  to  prevent 
the  French  occupation  of  Tunis,  and  has  tried  with  but  little 
success  to  found  a  colonial  dominion  of  her  own  in  eastern 
Africa  in  the  neighborhood  of  Abyssinia.  Portugal  and 
Spain,  whose  African  possessions  date  from  a  much  earlier 
period,  have  been  left  behind  by  the  rush  of  these  events 
and  have  now  no  opportunity  for  expansion. 

528.   The  English  Occupation  of  Egypt.  —  In  Egypt  the  a  joint 
extravagance  of  the  khedive,  Ismail  Pasha,  especially  after  administra- 
the  opening  of  the  Suez  Canal  in  1869,  threw  the  finances  of  England  and 
the  country  into  disorder,  and  gave  an  opportunity  for  the   France, 
joint  interference  of  France  and  England  in  1870  in  the  inter-   McCarthy, 

1  •  •  Our  Times 

est  of  the  holders  of  the  debt.     There  was  much  opposition  from  l88o 

in  the  country,  however,  to  this  arrangement,  and  in  1882  an  (Harper), 

insurrection  broke  out  under   Arabi    Pasha.     The   French  Chap' VL 
government  sent  orders  to  their  fleet  not  to  interfere,  but  the 
English  bombarded  Alexandria  and  put  down  the  insurrection. 

Since  that  time  England  has  had  virtual  possession  of  the  England 
country,  though  her  position  is  not  formally  recognized  by  alone. 


506 


Anglo-Saxon  Expansion 


[§529 


A  Moham- 
medan 
revival. 


the  European  powers.  Her  rule  has  been  of  the  greatest 
benefit  to  the  population  and  is  rapidly  developing  the  re- 
sources of  the  State. 

529.  The  Insurrection  of  the  Mahdi.  —  At  about  the  same 
time  with  the  insurrection  of  Arabi  Pasha,  the  equatorial  or 
upper  Nile  provinces  of  Egypt  were   swept  by  a  flood  of 


Khartum 


McCarthy, 
Our  Times 
from  /88o, 
134  flf. 


fanatical  Mohammedanism,  a  revival  of  primitive  religious 
enthusiasm  led  by  the  Mahdi,  or  the  prophet.  General 
Gordon  attempted  to  check  its  advance  at  Khartum,  but  was 
killed  in  1885,  and  the  Egyptian  Soudan  became  indepen- 
dent. The  early  attempts  of  the  English  to  recover  posses- 
sion of  the  provinces  were  unsuccessful,  and  only  in  1897 
did  their  real  reoccupation  begin,  completed  in  the  following 
year  by  the  capture  of  Khartum. 

The  reconquest  of  the  Soudan  was  no  doubt  stimulated 


§  53°]  The  Anglo-Saxon  Race  507 

somewhat  by  the  movements  of  the  French  towards  the  Rivalry  for 
upper  Nile  from  the  western  Soudan,  which  appeared  to  theuPPer 
be  directed  to  the  establishment  of  a  connection  between 
the  French  possessions  in  West  and  those  in  East  Africa. 
These  movements  threatened  the  connection  on  their  side 
which  the  English  had  long  been  planning  to  bring  about 
through  the  centre  of  Africa  between  the  Cape  Colony  and 
Egypt. 

In  area  the  French  possess  by  far  the  largest  share  of  England  has 
Africa,  but  neither  their  possessions  nor  those  of  the  Ger-  *J"\best  of 
mans  equal  those  of  the  English  in  resources  or  in  adapta- 
bility to  European  colonization. 

530.   The  Anglo-Saxon  Race  in  the  World.  —  The  position  The  greatest 
which  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  now  occupies  in  the  world,  if  its  world  emPlre 

1111  i  1  •    1  °f  history. 

two  halves  be  taken  together,  is  one  which  no  other  race  has  General 
ever  held  before  or  holds  at  present.     Of  the  five  continents,   sketch, 
it  possesses  the  whole  of  one,  North  America,  all  the  por-  ^uca^> 

r  7  >  it  Introduction, 

tions  best  suited  to  European  residents  of  another,  Africa,   101-107; 
and  exceedingly  rich  and  populous  portions  of  a  third,  Asia,  Adams, 
and  in  addition  the  whole  of  a  great  island  continent,  Aus-  Monthly 
tralia,  which  is  as  thoroughly  Anglo-Saxon  as  England  itself.   Apr.  1897. 
It  holds  one-fifth  the  area,  one-fourth  the  population,  and 
one-third  the  wealth  of  the  whole  globe.     It  is  externally 
in  every  sense  of  the  word  a  world  empire,  and  internally  it 
represents   the   highest  point  yet  reached  by  mankind  in 
political  and  civil  liberty  and  economic  freedom. 

This  proud  position  which  our  race  occupies  has  excited   The  future  of 
the  jealousy  of  more  than  one  of  the  others,  and  within  re-   the  rac^ 

1  J  i  •    1    .  1  r  demands  its 

cent  years  signs  have  been  multiplying  that  some  of  them  at  unjon  jn 
least  are  only  awaiting  a  favorable  opportunity  to  attempt  the  policy. 
dismemberment  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  Empire.     With  the  race   ^^sk 
united  in  a  common  policy  of  defence,  it  would  seem  cer-   People,  iv., 
tain  that  no  combination  of  other  nations  likely  ever  to  be   266-271. 
formed  against  it  could  succeed  in  destroying,  or  even  in 
dividing,  its  empire.     That  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  has  a  heri- 
tage from  the  past  in  its  system  of  free  government  worth 
defending  wherever  it  exists,  and  a  civilization  worth  pre- 


$08  Anglo-Saxon  Expansion  [§  53° 

serving  for  the  future,  are  conclusions  to  which  the  study  of 
our  history  can  hardly  fail  to  lead  us. 


Topics 

What  led  to  the  occupation  of  Australia?  How  was  it  changed  into 
a  colony  proper?  Its  early  growth.  How  was  the  French  Revolution 
dangerous  to  the  English  empire?  What  were  Bonaparte's  ideas  of 
colonial  empire?  How  illustrated  in  Egypt?  In  America?  What 
was  the  final  result  in  both  cases?  England's  colonial  gains  from  the 
Napoleonic  wars.  The  importance  of  the  Cape  Colony.  Pitt's  Cana- 
dian government.  Canada's  struggle  for  self-government.  Of  what 
value  to  the  other  colonies.  England's  present  method  of  governing 
great  colonies.  The  second  great  annexation  by  the  United  States. 
Results  of  the  gold  discoveries.  Theory  about  the  Empire  held  in 
England  between  1850  and  1870.  How  did  this  lead  to  the  imperial 
federation  idea?  English  expansion  in  India.  Character  of  the  Ind- 
ian government.  Russian  advance  in  central  Asia.  What  awakened 
the  first  interest  of  Europe  in  Africa?  The  Congo  Free  State.  The 
beginning  of  the  scramble.  The  present  occupation  of  Africa.  Eng- 
land in  Egypt.    The  question  of  the  upper  Nile. 


Topics  for  Assigned  Studies 

The  Sepoy  mutiny.  Frazer,  British  India,  Chap.  XIV.  McCarthy. 
Our  Own  Times,  II.,  Chaps.  XXXII.-XXXV.  Malleson,  The 
Indian  Mutiny.     (Scribner.) 

Present  government  of  English  colonies.  Payne,  Colonies  and  Depen- 
dencies. (English  Citizen  Series.  Macmillan.)  Canada.  Text 
of  Act  of  Parliament,  1867.     Roberts,  Canada,  443-476. 


Important  Dates  for  Review 


European  Politics 

1789.  Estates  general  meet  in  France. 

1804.  Napoleon  I.,  emperor. 
1815.  Holy  Alliance. 

1821.  The  Greek  insurrection. 

1830.  The  July  revolution  in  Paris. 


Anglo-Saxon  Expansion 
1787.  Australia  occupied. 

1803.  Louisiana  purchase. 

18 15.  Cape  Colony  annexed. 
1819.  Florida  purchase. 

1823.  The  Monroe  Doctrine. 


Importa7it  Dates  for  Review 


509 


European  Politics 


1848.  Revolutions    throughout    Eu- 
rope. 

1851.  Napoleon  III.,  emperor. 
1854.  Crimean  War. 

1861    \  kingdom  of  Italy  formed. 

(  William  I.,  king  of  Prussia. 
1864.  War  with  Denmark. 
1866.  War    between     Prussia    and 

Austria. 
1870.  Franco-Prussian  War. 
1877.  War  between  Russia  and  Tur- 
key. 


Anglo-Saxon  Expansion 

1840.  Change  of  government  in  Can- 
ada. 

1848.  Annexations  of  Mexican  terri- 
tories. 

1848  to  1851.  Discoveries  of  gold. 


1857.  Sepoy  mutiny. 


1867.  Alaska  purchase. 

1870.  Imperial  Federation  Movement 
begun. 

1879.  Egypt  occupied  by  France  and 
England. 

1880-1883.  Scramble  for  Africa  be- 
gins. 


CHAPTER    VIII 

THE  GROWTH    OF    THE    ENGLISH    AND    AMERICAN    CON- 
STITUTIONS i 

Books  for  Reference  and  Further  Reading 

Medley,   Manual  of  English    Constitutional  History.     (Macmillan; 

*3.25-) 

Taswell-Langmead,  English  Constitutional  History.  Ashworth's  edi- 
tion.    (Houghton;  $6.00.) 

Montague,  Elements  of  English  Constitutional  History.  (Longmans; 
$1.25.)     A  very  interesting  and  successful  elementary  book. 

Hannis  Taylor,  Origin  and  Growth  of  the  English  Constitution.  2  vols. 
(Houghton;  $9.00.)  With  especial  reference  to  the  American 
constitution.     A  very  suggestive  introduction  opens  Vol.  I. 

Hallam,  Constitutional  History  of  England.  (Many  editions,  usually 
in  3  vols.)     Old,  but  still  valuable. 

Boyle,  Selections  from  Clarendon.     (Clarendon;  52.00.) 

On  the  present  English  constitution  see : 

Fonblanque,  How  We  are  Governed.     (Warne;   75  cents.) 
Volumes  in  English  Citizen  Series.     (Macmillan;   $1.00  each.) 
Macy,  The  English  Constitution.     (Macmillan;  $2.00.) 
Bagehot,  The  English  Constitution.     (Appleton  ;  $2.00.) 

And  compare  on  the  American : 
Bryce,  The  American  Commonwealth.     2  vols.     (Macmillan;  $4.00; 

or  abridged,  $1.75.) 
Wilson,  Congressional  Government.     (Houghton;   $1.25.) 

1  In  connection  with  this  chapter  there  should  be  a  review  of  the  facts  of 
English  political  history.  The  study  of  constitutional  history,  though  of  the 
greatest  importance,  is  always  more  difficult  than  that  of  narrative  history. 
The  separate  treatment  of  this  subject,  which  the  facts  readily  allow,  will 
permit  the  teacher  to  omit  it  entirely  with  less  advanced  classes,  if  desired, 
and  in  the  case  of  the  more  advanced  to  give  it  more  careful  attention  than 
would  be  possible  if  combined  with  the  political  history. 

510 


§§  531?  532]    Absolutism  of  the  Norman  Kings 


5" 


531.  The  Importance  of  the  History  of  our  Institu- 
tions. —  Throughout  all  its  vast  empire  the  Anglo-Saxon 
race  has  carried  liberty  and  free  self-government.  Other 
nations  have  found  by  experience,  also,  that  the  Anglo-Saxon 
institutions  are  the  best  adapted  to  secure  freedom  and  the 
most  likely  to  be  permanent  of  any  that  are  now  known,  and 
therefore  all  civilized  nations  that  try  to  have  a  free  govern- 
ment at  all  have  adopted  some  form  of  ours ;  if  they  are 
monarchies  taking  the  English  form  with  such  modifications 
as  their  circumstances  seem  to  require  ;  and  if  they  are  re- 
publics, either  following  this  model  still,  as  in  the  case  of 
France,  or  following  more  closely  the  special  forms  of  the 
United  States.  It  seems  almost  certain,  so  far  as  any  pre- 
diction is  possible,  that  the  final  free  institutions  of  the  world 
are  to  be  built  on  the  foundation  which  the  English  people 
has  laid  down.  This  fact,  in  addition  to  the  circumstance 
that  they  are  our  own,  makes  the  history  of  the  way  in  which 
these  institutions  were  formed  of  very  great  interest  and  im- 
portance. 

532.  The  Absolutism  of  the  First  Norman  Kings.  — The 
English  constitution  begins  with  an  absolute  monarchy. 
After  William  the  Norman  had  conquered  England  in  1066, 
he  ruled  as  a  very  strong  king.  Every  important  question 
of  government  which  came  up  he  was  able  to  decide  by  his 
own  will  alone,  and  there  was  no  machinery  known  at  the 
time  by  which  the  will  of  the  people  or  even  of  their  leaders, 
the  great  barons,  could  be  made  to  decide  a  question  in  op- 
position to  the  king's  will.  William  II.  ruled  in  the  same 
way,  but  he  was  an  even  more  arbitrary  man  than  his  father, 
and  he  did  a  great  many  things  which  the  barons  and  the 
Church  believed  were  contrary  to  the  principles  of  the  feudal 
law. 

The  feudal  system,  as  it  existed  in  the  duchy  of  Normandy, 
was  brought  into  England  as  a  result  of  the  conquest  of  Wil- 
liam. In  the  theory  of  the  time  the  fundamental  idea  of  the 
feudal  relation  was  that  it  was  a  contract  of  mutual  service 
and  obligation  between  the  lord  and  his  vassal.     This  being 


They  are 
becoming  the 
institutions 
of  the  world. 


William  I. 


William  II. 


William  II. 
pushes  his 
feudal  rights 
to  the  point 
of  tyranny. 
Stubbs, 
Cons.  Hist., 
I.,  Sec.  106. 


512 


The  Anglo-Saxon  Constitutions     [§§  533?  534 


The  Charter 
of  Henry  I., 

IIOO. 

Taswell- 
Langmead, 
Cons.  Hist., 

65-67; 

Text,  Stubbs, 
99;  Penn.  I., 
No.  6. 


The 

promises 
of  Stephen. 
Stubbs,  119; 
Penn.  I., 
No.  6. 


What  if  the 
king  does 
not  keep  his 
promises? 


the  case,  the  lord  had  no  more  right  to  demand  additional 
services  from  his  vassal,  which  the  contract  did  not  call  for, 
than  one  of  us  would  have  to  change  for  his  own  advantage 
the  terms  of  a  written  bargain,  which  he  had  made,  without 
the  consent  of  the  other  party.  William  II.,  however,  in  his 
anxiety  to  obtain  money,  seems  to  have  pressed  some  of  his 
feudal  rights  to  an  extreme  point,  like  wardship  and  marriage, 
and  to  have  applied  them  to  the  lands  held  by  the  bishops 
and  abbots  in  a  way  that  the  Church  did  not  think  was  right. 
While  he  reigned,  however,  he  was  so  powerful  that  nothing 
could  be  done  about  it. 

533-  Our  First  Constitutional  Document. — On  William's 
death  his  brother  Henry  hastened  to  secure  the  crown  to  the 
exclusion  of  their  elder  brother  Robert,  and  as  he  needed 
the  support  of  every  one  whom  he  could  secure,  the  barons 
and  bishops  made  him  sign  and  seal  a  written  agreement, 
specifying  many  of  the  things  which  William  had  done  and 
solemnly  promising  that  he  would  not  do  them.  This  is 
the  Charter  of  Henry  I.,  and  is  the  first  document  in  Eng- 
lish constitutional  history.  It  is  in  principle  and  character, 
as  stating  the  rights  which  have  been  violated  and  insisting 
that  they  must  be  respected,  very  similar  to  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  of  1776,  and  we  may  rightly  call  it  the 
earliest  ancestor  from  which  that  document  descends. 

534.  Progress  under  a  Bad  King.  —  Henry  I.  was  a  strong 
and  a  fairly  good  king,  and  no  attempt  was  made  to  force 
him  to  a  strict  keeping  of  his  promises.  When  Stephen 
tried  to  make  himself  king  in  the  place  of  his  cousin  Matilda, 
he  had  to  purchase  support,  as  Henry  I.  had  done,  and  to 
make  written  promises  again ;  indeed,  he  made  several  sets 
of  promises  to  different  parties,  —  to  the  Church,  to  London, 
to  some  of  the  great  barons,  and  to  the  whole  kingdom. 

Now  Stephen  proved  to  be  a  very  bad  king,  and  the  peo- 
ple who  were  interested  had  to  decide  what  they  would  do 
with  a  king  who  did  not  keep  his  promises.  They  probably 
did  not  think  about  it  and  all  its  consequences  very  clearly  or 
consciously,  but  this  is  certainly  what  they  did.     They  tried 


§§  535)  536J    Beginning  of  Judicial  Institutions         513 


to  depose  him  and  put  Matilda  in  his  place.  But  Stephen 
always  had  a  party  on  his  side,  and  Matilda  showed  herself 
just  as  bad  a  ruler,  so  that  the  attempt  did  not  come  to  any 
satisfactory  conclusion.  It  is  interesting  as  the  first  trace  we 
have  of  the  idea  that  the  people  may  try  to  force  the  king 
by  civil  war  to  keep  his  promises. 

535.  Absolute  Kings  again.  —  After  Stephen  came  Henry 
II.,  the  great  Angevin  king.  At  the  beginning  of  his  reign 
he  issued  a  charter  in  which  he  promised  to  regard  the  good 
laws  of  his  grandfather  and  discontinue  all  evil  customs  ;  but 
he  and  his  sons  were  the  most  absolute  of  English  kings,  and 
we  may  almost  say  of  them  that  their  will  was  law,  certainly  it 
was  for  everything  not  already  settled  by  custom,  and  for  all 
questions  of  government  policy.  Their  hand  and  will  kept 
the  government  machine  going,  and  in  a  very  true  sense  in 
their  time  the  king  was  the  State. 

536.  The  Beginning  of  our  Judicial  Institutions.  —  Al- 
though there  was  not  much  progress  in  the  reign  of  Henry  II. 
towards  constitutional  liberty,  there  was  begun  a  very  im- 
portant development  of  one  set  of  public  institutions,  which 
help  to  secure  our  freedom,  —  the  law  courts.  In  order  to  be 
sure  to  get  all  the  money  which  was  due  him,  and  to  compel 
the  sheriffs  to  perform  all  their  administrative  duties  faith- 
fully, Henry  determined  to  send  down  into  the  counties, 
where  they  could  get  at  all  the  evidence  easily,  members  of 
the  king's  court,  or  curia  regis,  the  body  to  which  the  sher- 
iffs were  responsible  and  to  which  they  made  their  reports. 

These  members  of  the  king's  court  were  supposed  to  rep- 
resent the  king  himself,  and  were  charged  to  look  carefully 
after  all  his  dues  and  rights,  and  to  inquire  how  the  sheriff 
had  conducted  his  office  in  each  county.  In  order  to  get 
the  evidence  which  they  needed,  they  had  the  right  to  sum- 
mon men  from  each  locality  and  put  them  on  their  oath  to 
tell  them  all  they  knew  about  these  facts.  This  was  the  ori- 
gin of  our  jury. 

These  new  officers,  called  itinerant  justices,  were  also  al- 
lowed to  hear  and  decide  cases  at  law  in  the  different  coun- 

2L 


Henry  II., 
Richard  I. 
and  John. 


Law  courts 
and  the  jury. 
Documents 
in  Stubbs, 
135  ff.,  and 
especially, 
258; 
Penn.  I., 
No.  6 ; 
Henderson, 
11-20. 


The  chief 
work  of  the 
itinerant 
justices. 
See  account 
of  Charle- 
magne's 
Missi,  p.  169. 


They  also 
tried  cases. 


514  The  Anglo-Saxon  Constitutions     [§§  537?  538 

ties  which  might  otherwise  have  come  before  the  king's 
The  jury.  court  at  Westminster.  In  trying  these  cases,  to  decide 
stubby  questions  of  fact  which  might  arise,  they  were  allowed  to 

1.,  Sec.  164.  make  use  of  the  jury,  which  was  considered  to  be  an  institu- 
tion belonging  especially  to  the  king,  and  primarily  to  be 
used  only  in  his  business.  This  judicial  side  of  their  busi- 
ness grew  much  more  rapidly  than  the  other,  and  by  degrees, 
as  new  methods  of  looking  after  the  financial  interests  of  the 
government  were  introduced,  it  came  to  occupy  almost  their 
whole  attention.  This  was  the  beginning  of  our  circuit 
court  system,  which  we  think  of  usually  as  nothing  but  judi- 
cial ;  but  when  one  of  our  judges  instructs  the  grand  jury  to 
look  into  the  way  in  which  the  sheriff  has  kept  the  jail  since 
the  last  meeting  of  the  court,  he  is  doing  just  what  his  office 
was  originally  invented  to  accomplish. 
The  question  537.  King  John's  Arbitrary  Taxation.  —  Henry  II.  did 
of  taxation  at  not  seriously  interfere  with  those  rights  of  the  people  which 

the  founda-  '  ,  "°  *       v 

tion  of  the       were  secured  by  the  law,  but  Richard  I.  did  many  very  arbi- 
Engiish  trary  things,  and  John  was  a  thoroughly  bad  king.     He  was 

s°ubbsUti46     indeed  bad  in  more  ways  than  one,  but  the  particular  line 
159,  283,  and  of  badness  which  had  the  greatest  influence  on  the  growth 
Cons.  Hist.,      0f  the  constitution  was  with  reference  to  taxation.     John  is 
not  to  be  blamed  for  trying  to  increase  the  income  of  the 
State.     The   necessities  of  the  government,  owing  to   the 
rapidly  increasing  business  which  it  had  to  attend  to,  had 
grown  so  much  greater  than  they  formerly  had  been  that 
the  old  feudal  revenues  were  entirely  inadequate.     But  in 
trying  to  establish  a  regular  system  of  taxes,  by  simply  order- 
ing feudal  dues  to  be  paid  at  his  own  arbitrary  will,  without 
regard  to  the  circumstances  which  gave  him  a  right  to  take 
them   by  law,  John   had  certainly  violated    the   principles 
of  the  feudal  contract. 
John  is  538.     The  Magna  Charta.  —  When  the  opposition  to  John 

forced  to         became  so  strong  that  he  was  forced  to  yield,  in  1215,  the 

grant  a  full        ,  .  .      .  ,    .  r  „        ,         _         J  .... 

and  specific     barons,  with  the  advice  of  Stephen  Langton,  archbishop  of 
charter.  Canterbury,  drew  up   a   new  charter,   the   Magna   Charta, 

Text  and         which  was  based  on  the  Charter  of  Henry  I.  but  which  was 


$§  539?  54o]     The  Right  of  Insurrection  Applied         5 1 5 

much  more  full  and  specific.     This  charter  covered,  besides  comment, 

its  provisions  in  regard  to  taxes,  many  other  points  of  feudal  Taswell- 

law.     Some  were  points  which  had  arisen  in  the  working  of  cons^Hlst. 
the  new  itinerant  courts ;   some  regarded  questions  of  ad- 
ministration ;    others    related    to    the    royal   forests ;     and 

others  still  to  matters  in  which  the  interests  of  the  Church  old  South, 

were  involved.  No.  5 ; 

In  latter  English  history  it  came  to  be  believed  that  the  Neonn6".  "' 

Magna  Charta  secured  the  right  of  Parliament  to  vote  all  the  L:eber,  Civil 

taxes,  and  the  right  of  every  freeman  to  a  jury  trial,  and  to  L'lberty ; 

the  writ  of  habeas  corpus.     As  a  matter  of  historical  fact,  x  - 

these  things  were  not  in  the  Magna  Charta  as  its  framers  The  Magna 

understood  it,  but  there  were  clauses  which  naturally  seemed  Charta  takes 

to  imply  them,  and,  when  they  had  once  been  established  as  onlateran 

,  r  1 \        r  i-i  1  1       •  /-1  even  wider 

the  great  safeguards  of  liberty,  the  authority  of  the  Magna  meaning. 

Charta  helped  to  give  them  a  sacred  character.  Adams, 

539.  The  Right  of  Civil  War.  —  Without  much  question  flWW* 
the  most  important  clauses  of  the  Magna   Charta,  in  their  Th   Maan 
influence  on  the  actual  work  of  making  the  English  constitu-  charta  to  be 
tion,  are  these  at  the  end  which  state  the  means  of  com-  enforced  by 
pelling  the  king  to  keep  his  promises.     These  state  that  if  ki 

he  fails  in  any  of  his  obligations  "the  community  of  the 
whole  kingdom  may  distress  and  distrain  [him]  in  all  the 
ways  in  which  they  shall  be  able  "  till  the  grievance  is  re- 
dressed. 

This  was  the  logical  conclusion  of  the  practice    begun  Civil  war  a 
with  Henry  I.  of  extorting  from  the  king  definite  and  specific   constltu- 
promises  to  be  faithful  to  the  law ;  but  this  conclusion,  of  expedient, 
which  no  one  had  been  conscious   in   Henry's  time,  and 
which  was  first  thought  of  in  the  case  of  Stephen,  was  now 
much  more  clearly  and  consciously  drawn  than  it  had  been 
before.    From   this  time  on  it  became,  we  may  say,  legal 
and  constitutional  to  raise  civil  war  against  the  king,  if  he 
violated  the  legal  rights  of  the  people. 

540.  The  Right  of  Insurrection  Applied.  —  On  this  prin-  John 
ciple  the  nation  acted  as  long  as  it  was  necessary.     When  deP°sed« 
John  attempted  to  throw  off  the  engagements  made  in  the 


5i6 


The  Anglo-Saxon  Constitutions 


C§54i 


Henry  III. 
Hutton, 
Misrule  of 
Henry  III. 
(Contempo- 
raries). 

Stubbs,  378. 


The  Baron's 
War. 
Hutton. 
Simon  de 
Montfort 
(Contempo- 
raries) ; 
Matthew 
Paris  (Bonn), 
1 1 1.,  344-356; 
Matthew  of 
Westminster 
(Bonn),  II., 
412-441; 
Stubbs,  409. 

The  right  to 
restrain  a 
bad  king. 


The  growth 
of  a  national 
party. 

Richardson, 
National 
Movement  in 
Reign  of 
Henry  III. 
(Macmillan). 


Charter,  and  got  the  pope  to  release  him  from  them,  the 
barons  declared  him  deposed  and  proclaimed  Prince  Louis 
of  France  king  in  his  place.  A  change  of  dynasty  might 
have  taken  place  at  this  time  if  John's  death  in  the  midst  of 
the  conflict  had  not  saved  the  throne  to  his  son. 

When  that  son,  Henry  III.,  came  of  age,  he  proved  to  be  a 
weak  and  extravagant  king,  who  was  continually  disregarding 
the  rights  of  his  subjects.  At  one  time  the  barons  threatened 
to  choose  another  king  in  his  place  if  he  did  not  dismiss  one 
of  his  favorite  ministers.  Later  they  compelled  him  to  give 
up  practically  the  whole  government  of  England  into  the 
hands  of  a  commission  which  they  had  chosen,  and  to  which 
the  officers  of  the  State  were  made  responsible.  This  was 
the  arrangement  called  the  Provisions  of  Oxford. 

Later  still  they  made  open  war  on  the  king.  At  first  they 
were  successful  and  obtained  a  confirmation  of  the  charters 
from  Henry,  in  which  he  distinctly  recognized  their  right  to 
rise  in  insurrection  against  him  if  he  violated  the  agreement. 
Afterwards  they  were  defeated  by  Prince  Edward,  and  Simon 
de  Montfort,  their  leader,  was  killed ;  but  the  most  of  the 
principles  for  which  they  had  been  contending  were  adopted, 
through  the  wisdom  of  Prince  Edward,  and  made  into  laws. 

541.  The  Idea  of  a  Limited  Monarchy.  —  Besides  carrying 
on  this  principle  of  rightful  resistance  to  the  king,  the  reign 
of  Henry  III.  was  one  of  the  greatest  periods  of  constitu- 
tional growth  in  English  history.  It  was  a  time  during  which 
the  idea  of  a  limited  monarchy,  of  controlling  the  king,  put- 
ting him  under  restraints,  and  guiding  him  by  the  national 
will  took  very  rapid  shape.  This  was  partly  due  to  the 
personal  character  of  the  king,  which  was  so  weak  that  it  did 
not  command  the  respect  of  any  one,  so  that  nearly  every 
one  was  ready  and  willing  to  oppose  him.  In  part  it  was 
due  to  the  fact  that  there  was  throughout  his  reign  a  con- 
stant conflict  between  the  native  English  and  parties  of 
foreign  favorites  of  the  king's,  who  were  using  their  position 
to  gain  everything  which  they  could  for  themselves,  so  that 
there  was  always  a  good  reason  for  opposition.     We  cannot 


§§542,543]   Representatives  in  the  Great  Council      517 


say  that  a  limited  monarchy  yet  existed  or  any  definite 
machinery  for  expressing  the  national  will,  but  the  beginnings 
of  both  date  from  this  reign. 

542.  The  Origin  of  Representative  Institutions. — -The 
greatest  advance  of  all  during  the  reign  was  in  the  taking  of 
the  first  steps  towards  the  formation  of  Parliament  and  the 
introduction  of  the  representative  system.  The  first  full  and 
regular  Parliament,  in  the  legal  sense,  the  so-called  model 
Parliament,  was  called  together  by  Edward  I.  in  1295,  but  it 
was  during  the  reign  of  his  father  that  the  preliminary  steps 
were  taken  which  made  the  assembling  of  the  full  Parliament 
seem  to  every  one  a  perfectly  natural  thing. 

These  steps  consisted,  first,  in  employing  representatives  of 
the  counties  in  national  business ;  second,  in  summoning  them 
to  meet  with  the  Great  Council,  which  was  composed  of  the 
barons  and  prelates  and  served  as  the  king's  council  and 
court,  to  act  for  their  counties  and  make  known  to  the  coun- 
cil the  local  opinion  ;  and,  finally,  in  adding  to  these  repre- 
sentatives of  the  counties  other  representatives  from  certain 
of  the  more  important  towns. 

543.  Representatives  of  the  Counties  brought  into  the 
Great  Council. — The  representatives  of  the  counties  were 
known  as  knights  of  the  shire.  That  is,  they  were  members 
of  the  lower  ranks  of  the  land-holding  aristocracy,  who  had 
no  noble  titles  but  were  persons  of  great  influence  in  their 
localities.  They  had  first  begun  to  be  employed  in  public 
business  in  connection  with  the  itinerant  justice  courts  in 
which  they  chose  and,  so  far  as  their  numbers  went,  formed 
the  juries. 

Their  use  in  this  way  undoubtedly  suggested  their  employ- 
ment in  business  more  directly  concerning  the  government 
when  the  need  for  it  arose.  In  1220  two  knights  were 
chosen  in  the  county  courts  to  assess  and  collect  a  land  tax. 
In  1225  four  knights  were  elected  from  each  hundred  to 
assess  and  collect  a  tax  on  personal  property  granted  the 
king  by  the  Great  Council.  In  1226  four  knights  were  sum- 
moned to  go  to  the  king  from  each  of  eight  counties  to  re- 


The  begin- 
ning of 
Parliament. 


The  steps 
which  led  to 
Parliament. 
Medley, 
Manual, 
Sec.  20; 
Taswell- 
Langmead, 
Cons.  Hist., 
191-197 ; 
Social 
England,  I. 
396-403. 

The  knights 
of  the  shire. 
Stubbs,  259. 


The  knights 
employed  in 
public 
business. 
Stubbs,  357. 


5i8 


The  Anglo-Saxon  Constitutions     [§§  544*  545 


port  on  the  conduct  of  the  sheriffs.      Other  cases  of  the 
same  sort  follow. 

In  1254  occurs  the  first  case  of  the  knights  meeting  with 
the  Great  Council,  summoned  thither  by  the  king  from  each 
county  to  aid  in  granting  him  a  new  tax.  They  were  sum- 
moned again  in  1261,  in  1264,  and  in  1265.  From  this  time 
on  their  membership  may  be  said  to  be  a  regular  feature  of 
the  Great  Council,  which  was  now  beginning  to  be  called 
Parliament. 

544.  The  First  Case  of  Town  Representation.  —  The 
representation  of  the  towns  was  introduced  more  suddenly, 
and  in  a  revolutionary  way,  by  Simon  de  Montfort  in  the 
Parliament  which  he  called  to  meet  in  January,  1265,  while 
the  king  was  a  prisoner  in  his  hands,  but  it  does  not  seem 
to  have  been  thought  at  the  time  a  very  strange  step.  In 
fact,  the  towns  had  been  regularly  represented  for  a  long 
time  in  the  county  courts,  and  as  they  seemed  to  be  a  some- 
what different  class  from  that  directly  represented  by  the 
knights  of  the  shire,  the  idea  was  sure  to  occur  to  some  one 
before  long  that  they  should  be  represented  in  the  Parlia- 
ment also.  This  step,  which  Simon  de  Montfort  took  to 
strengthen  himself,  was  not  followed,  in  anything  which  we 
can  call  a  full  Parliament  in  the  later  sense,  for  thirty  years. 

In  the  interval,  the  practice  shows  a  very  great  variety  and 
uncertainty  both  in  the  composition  and  in  the  method  of 
operation  of  the  Parliament,  which  means  of  course  that  the 
institution  was  still  in  the  process  of  formation,  and  that 
neither  its  make  up  nor  its  functions  were  yet  fixed.  We 
can,  indeed,  scarcely  detect  any  drift  towards  regularity,  but 
when  all  the  elements  were  once  more  brought  together  in 
a  regular  assembly  summoned  by  the  king,  in  1295,  this  be- 
came immediately  the  standard  form. 

545.  Further  Progress  in  the  Thirteenth  Century.  —  Be- 
sides determining  the  composition  of  Parliament,  the  reign 
of  Edward  I.  decided  the  first  great  point  in  the  conflict  be- 
tween Parliament  and  the  king,  and  laid  the  foundation  for 
the  final  victory  of  Parliament.     This  was  the  establishment 


§546]    Parliament's  Right  to  control  Taxation     519 


of  the  right  of  Parliament  to  vote  the  taxes.  In  principle 
this  was  the  same  as  the  provision t>f  the  Magna  Charta  with 
regard  to  extraordinary  feudal  taxes,  but  during  the  century 
there  had  been  very  great  progress  in  two  directions  which 
decidedly  changed  the  application  of  the  principle. 

In  the  first  place,  since  the  granting  of  the  Magna  Charta, 
a  system  of  taxes,  more  regular  in  character  and  more  like 
modern  taxes  than  the  feudal  levies,  had  been  growing  up. 
Taxation  meant  something  different  in  1295  from  anything 
it  had  meant  in  12 15.  Extraordinary  taxes,  voted  by  the 
Parliament,  were  at  the  close  of  the  century  a  much  heavier 
and  more  frequent  burden  on  the  nation  than  at  the  begin- 
ning, and  they  were  much  more  the  dependence  of  the 
government,  in  fact  without  them  government  was  no  longer 
possible. 

In  the  second  place  the  body  giving  consent  to  taxation, 
called  in  the  Magna  Charta  the  Common  Council  of  the 
kingdom,  and  which  we  have  called  the  Great  Council,  had 
now  decidedly  changed  in  character.  It  was  no  longer,  as 
it  had  been  then,  an  assembly  of  the  king's  vassals  only,  the 
barons  and  prelates  of  the  realm,  but  it  was  an  assembly 
containing  representatives  of  all  the  chief  classes  of  the 
nation  becoming  conscious  of  standing  in  the  place  of  the 
community  and  watchful  of  its  interests. 

546.  The  King  recognizes  the  Right  of  Parliament  to 
control  Taxation.  —  Consequently,  when  in  1297,  after  a 
struggle  with  regard  to  arbitrary  taxation,  Edward  was 
forced  to  issue  a  new  agreement  to  conform  to  the  charters, 
it  contained  a  much  more  full  and  specific  promise  than 
ever  before  not  to  take  any  taxes  "but  by  the  common 
assent  of  the  realm."  It  was  intended  to  make  this  declara- 
tion so  full  as  to  cover  all  kinds  of  taxes.  And,  indeed, 
though  later  kings  at  different  times  were  able  to  invent 
means  of  dodging  the  prohibition  and  violating  the  spirit 
of  the  law  if  not  its  form,  they  were  never  able  to  deny  the 
principle  nor  to  recover  the  ground  which  had  been  lost  in 
the  thirteenth  century. 


The 

development 
of  modern 
taxation. 


The  "con- 
firmation 
of  the 
charters." 
Taswell- 
Langmead, 
Cons.  Hist. 
210-217 ; 
text  in 
Stubbs,  487; 
Penn.  I., 
No.  6. 


520 


The  Anglo-Saxon  Constitutions     [§§  547?  548 


The  king 
forced  by  his 
need  of 
money  to 
make 
reforms. 
Stubbs, 
Cons.  Hist., 
II.,  Sec.  289. 


The  Hun- 
dred Years' 
War  under 
Edward   III. 
gives  an 
opportunity. 
Medley, 
Manual, 
Sec.  33; 
Montague, 
Elements, 

73-89; 
Taswell- 
Langmead, 
Cons.  Hist., 

The  right  to 
make  specific 
appropria- 
tions. 
Stubbs, 
Cons.  Hist., 
II.,  Sees. 
287-288. 


547.  Parliament  immediately  takes  a  New  Step.  —  Upon 
the  foundation  thus  laid  down  Parliament  steadily  pro- 
ceeded through  the  whole  fourteenth  century  to  increase  its 
power  in  the  State,  and  to  acquire  a  more  complete  control 
over  the  king.  The  first  step  in  this  advance  was  taken 
early  in  the  reign  of  Edward  II.,  when  Parliament  asserted 
a  right  to  use  the  financial  necessities  of  the  government  to 
compel  the  king  to  agree  to  reforms  which  they  demanded. 
This  was  done  by  granting  the  tax  asked  for  on  the  condition 
that  the  reforms  were  made.  In  the  next  reign  Parliament 
met  the  tendency  of  the  king  to  promise  the  reform,  and  when 
he  had  got  the  money  to  fail  to  carry  it  out,  by  insisting  that 
the  changes  be  accomplished  before  their  grant  was  made. 

548.  Another  Most  Important  Right  Gained.  —  Hardly 
had  Parliament  made  sure  of  this  new  weapon  against  the 
king,  when  they  proceeded  to  put  into  use  another  and  still 
more  effective  one.  The  demands  of  the  king  for  money 
were  frequent  beyond  all  precedent  during  the  long  war 
with  France  in  the  fourteenth  century,  and  this  made  the 
Parliament  more  than  usually  interested  in  the  public  ex- 
penses. Almost  at  the  beginning  of  the  war  they  began  to 
make  inquiry  into  the  methods  of  collection  and  to  examine 
the  accounts  of  the  collectors.  By  the  middle  of  the 
century  they  began  to  grant  taxes  to  be  applied  to  the 
purposes  of  the  war  only. 

These  were  but  preliminaries  to  holding  the  government 
to  a  strict  accountability  for  the  expenditure  of  its  income. 
In  the  reign  of  Richard  II.  this  advance  was  made,  and  the 
treasurers  were  required  to  make  in  writing  a  full  statement 
of  the  income  and  expenses  of  the  State.  From  this  was 
developed  the  parliamentary  right  of  strict  appropriations  of 
money  for  government  use,  so  strongly  insisted  upon  as  a 
means  of  controlling  the  executive  in  all  the  Anglo-Saxon 
constitutions  that,  though  the  treasury  may  be  full  to  over- 
flowing, and  the  needs  of  the  government  never  so  pressing, 
not  a  penny  can  be  used  without  a  specific  vote  of  the 
representatives  of  the  people. 


§  549]     A    Third  Great  Gai?i  of  Parliament's       521 

Of  course  when  this  practice  should  be  put  into  complete   This  would 
operation  it  would  mean  a  very  effective  control  by  Parlia-   mean  a 
ment  over  the  whole  policy  of  the  government.     The  right  whole 
to  withhold  the  money  for  the.  necessary  expenses  would  government 
make  it  possible  for  Parliament  to  prevent  any  action  on  Policy- 
the  part  of  the  State  of  which  it  did  not  approve.     In  the 
end  the  English  government  did  come  to  be  subject  to  the 
control  of  the  legislature,  even  to  as  great  an  extent  as  this. 
But  the  right  of  appropriating  the  supplies  was  not  the  only 
means  which  led  to  this  result. 

549.  A  Third  Great  Gain  of  Parliament's.  —  At  exactly  The  right  of 
the  same  time  that  Parliament  was  securing  this  right,  it  was  imPeach" 
creating  another  equally  effective.  This  was  the  right  of 
impeaching  the  king's  ministers.  In  1367  was  the  first  case 
of  impeachment,  and  in  1386  the  second  and  still  more 
important  case  which  fully  established  the  right.  In  these 
cases  the  House  of  Commons  formally  accused  the  ministers 
before  the  House  of  Lords  of  misconduct  in  office.  The 
Lords  put  them  upon  trial,  found  them  guilty,  and  passed 
sentence  of  punishment  upon  them. 

The  right  of  impeachment,  when  it  was  put  into  its  final  The  minister 
form,   meant   far   more  than  the   power  of  Parliament  to  resP°nsible 

•  1  ...  -  ,  ,        ,  .  m  place  of 

punish  an  unpopular  minister.  It  meant  that  the  king  the  king, 
would  find  it  impossible  to  get  any  minister  who  would  be 
willing  to  carry  out  a  policy  known  to  be  opposed  by  the 
Parliament  or  by  the  public  sentiment  of  the  nation.  It 
meant,  in  other  words,  a  shifting  of  the  responsibility,  and  so 
in  the  end  of  the  control  of  the  government's  policy  from  the 
king  personally,  or  acting  of  his  absolute  will,  as  Henry  II. 
had  done,  to  the  minister. 

The  great  advantage  of  this  change  was  in  the  fact  that  A  substitute 
while  a  king  could  never  be  held  to  any  real  accountability  for  ,    . 

•  1  •    -i  1  1     •  •    •  t  1  •,      1        revolution. 

without  civil  war  and  revolution,  ministers  could  easily  be 
held  strictly  answerable  for  all  the  acts  of  the  government 
without  revolution,  unless  the  king  insisted,  as  Charles  I. 
finally  did,  on  assuming  the  responsibility  himself. 

To  carry. out  fully  this  application  of  impeachment,  Parlia- 


522 


The  Anglo-Saxon  Co7istitutions     [§§55°?55r 


ment  in  the  end  refused  to  allow  the  minister  to  plead  the 
orders  of  the  king  in  his  defence,  since  that  would  make  the 
king  responsible,  or  to  stop  the  trial  before  its  conclusion 
by  getting  the  king  to  grant  him  a  pardon.  These  points 
were  not  secured,  and  the  full  meaning  of  impeachment 
was  not  understood,  however,  at  first.  They  were  a  part 
of  the  more  perfect  statement  and  understanding  of  the 
English  constitution  which  resulted  from  the  struggles  of 
the  seventeenth  century  with  the  Stuart  kings. 

550.  The  Exclusive  Right  to  Legislate.  —  In  the  four- 
teenth century  Parliament  took  still  another  step  towards 
the  enlargement  of  its  power  at  the  expense  of  the  king. 
This  was  in  opening  the  struggle  between  laws,  or  statutes, 
regularly  passed  by  both  Houses  of  Parliament  and  assented 
to  by  the  king,  and  ordinances  made  by  the  king  and  his 
council,  either  the  king's  permanent  council  or  the  great 
council,  now  practically  the  same  as  the  House  of  Lords. 
This  last  had  been  the  method  of  legislation  of  feudal  times, 
in  so  far  as  there  was  any  at  all,  and  it  survived  alongside 
the  new  method  of  legislation  in  Parliament  for  some  time, 
and  traces  of  it  remained  in  the  constitution  much  longer. 
The  rivalry  between  ordinances  and  statutes  was  like  that 
between  the  old  feudal  and  the  new  parliamentary  taxes 
which  runs  through  the  thirteenth  century,  and,  like  that, 
it  was  in  the  end  settled  entirely  in  favor  of  Parliament. 

551.  The  Rise  of  the  House  of  Commons. — We  have 
been  speaking  all  along  of  the  increase  of  the  power  of 
Parliament,  but  it  must  be  noticed  that  Parliament  really 
means  the  House  of  Commons  added  to  the  old  Great 
Council,  or  to  the  barons  and  prelates  of  trie  realm.  Conse- 
quently the  increase  of  the  power  of  Parliament  really  means 
the  rise  in  influence  and  to  control  over  public  business  of 
the  House  of  Commons.  Before  the  middle  of  the  four- 
teenth century  the  Commons  had  withdrawn  from  the  Lords 
and  organized  themselves  as  a  distinct  body,  thus  complet- 
ing the  form  of  Parliament  j  and  all  the  advances  made 
in  this  century  are  really  for  the  benefit  of  the  lower  House. 


§§  552>  553]     First  Attack  on  the  Constitution 


523 


552.  Summary  of  Results.  —  If  we  put  these  all  to- 
gether, we  can  see  that  by  the  close  of  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury we  have  a  right  to  speak  of  the  English  monarchy  as 
already  a  limited  or  constitutional  monarchy  sustained,  if 
king  and  Parliament  came  to  a  square  issue,  by  the  right 
of  deposing  the  king.  The  monarchy  had  lost,  either  com- 
pletely or  to  all  practical  intents,  two  rights  essential  to 
an  absolutism  :  the  right  of  providing  a  revenue,  and  the 
right  of  making  laws  without  the  consent  of  the  nation; 
and  another  right  of  the  same  kind  had  so  far  slipped  out 
of  its  hands  that  it  was  henceforward  exercised  by  kings  in 
exceptional  circumstances  only,  that  of  determining  the 
policy  of  the  government  without  consulting  the  nation. 
Just  the  opposite  process  was  going  on  in  this  century  in 
France,  and  by  the  close  of  the  next  the  king  of  that  coun- 
try had  made  himself  the  most  absolute  monarch  of  the 
Christian  world  by  getting  possession  of  all  these  three 
rights  so  that  he  could  exercise  them  without  any  check. 

553.  The  First  Dangerous  Attack  on  the  Constitution. 
—  This  young  constitution  was  brought  to  a  sharp  test, 
which  reveals  its  character  and  its  strength,  in  the  reign 
of  Richard  II.  Just  what  kind  of  a  man  Richard  II.  was, 
and  just  what  he  intended  to  do,  we  cannot  say  with  any 
certainty.  But  this  makes  very  little  difference  with  the 
result.  Whatever  his  purpose  may  have  been,  if  he  had 
been  allowed  to  go  on  and  to  complete  the  process  he  had 
begun,  he  would  have  restored  the  monarchy  of  the  Ange- 
vin kings,  where  the  sovereign's  will  decided  everything. 
He  was  getting  an  independent  revenue,  and,  by  a  round- 
about method,  the  right  to  make  such  laws  as  he  pleased, 
and  he  was  assuming  the  power  to  suspend  statutes  passed 
by  Parliament  and  to  inflict  heavy  penalties  by  a  royal 
order. 

That  the  personal  cause  of  Henry  of  Lancaster  was  bound 
up  with  that  of  the  nation  does  not  make  the  revolution  of 
1399  any  the  less  one  in  defence  of  the  constitution,  or  any 
the  less  a  perfect  precedent  to  apply  to  a  king  like  James  II. 


England 
already  a 
limited 
monarchy. 


The  tyr- 
anny of 
Richard  II. 
Taswell- 
Langmead, 
Cons.  Hist., 
255  ff. 


The  first 
constitu- 
tional 
revolution, 
1399- 


524 


754*  Anglo-Saxon  Constitutions 


[§§554*555 


Parliament  was  perfectly  conscious  of  its  rights  in  the  case. 
Much  earlier  in  Richard's  reign,  when  he  showed  a  dispo- 
sition to  resist  the  right  of  the  legislature  to  control  his  min- 
isters, Parliament  called  his  attention  in  a  formal  address 
to  their  right  to  depose  the  king  and  to  the  exercise  of  this 
right  in  the  case  of  Edward  II. 

554.  The  Deposition  of  Edward  II.  1327. — The  case  of 
Edward  II.  was  not  so  clear  a  case  by  any  means  of  consti- 
tutional deposition  as  that  of  Richard  II.  The  personal  ele- 
ment entered  into  it  much  more  as  a  controlling  influence 
than  in  the  later  case.  But  in  form  Edward  was  deposed 
distinctly  on  the  ground  that  he  was  a  thoroughly  bad  king. 
But  even  without  this  precedent  there  could  be  no  question 
but  that  the  principle  had  been  clearly  established,  in  the 
still  earlier  cases  of  John  and  Henry  III.,  that  the  people 
had  the  right  to  make  war  upon  the  king  to  force  him  to 
better  government,  and  this  logically  involved  the  right  of 
deposition  or  it  could  not  be  really  effective.  There  was 
abundant  sanction  in  the  past,  explicit  and  implied,  for  the 
deposing  of  Richard  II.,  and  it  was  clearly  necessary  to  save 
the  constitution. 

555.  The  Right  of  Parliament  to  control  the  Succession. 
—  In  the  revolution  of  1399,  however,  the  Parliament  be- 
sides establishing  the  clearest  precedent  yet  made  for  the 
exercise  of  this  right  of  deposition  went  a  step  further  and 
put  into  operation  another  right,  logically  involved  in  the 
first,  but  never  before  acted  upon  and  not  even  then  fully 
understood  in  all  that  it  was  to  lead  to.  This  they  did  by 
passing  over  the  nearest  heirs  to  the  throne  and  placing  upon 
it  a  man  who  could  never  have  reached  it  by  the  ordinary 
rule  of  succession. 

No  doubt  they  did  this  with  no  thought  of  enlarging  their 
own  power.  Henry  was  the  only  one  who  was  competent 
to  be  king  at  the  time.  But  it  is  equally  true  that  by  this 
act  they  did  establish  the  principle  that  the  nation  acting 
through  Parliament  has  the  right  in  exceptional  cases  to  set 
aside  the  regular  line  and  to  give  a  legitimate  title  to  the 


§  556]       Progress  of  the  Fourteenth  Century  525 


throne  to  a  new  line  whose  only  right,  strictly  speaking,  is 
derived  from  the  choice  of  the  nation. 

This  right  was  confirmed  during  the  reign  of  Henry  IV.  by 
acts  of  Parliament  fixing  the  line  of  succession  in  the  family 
of  the  king,  and  Parliament  very  soon  became  clearly  con- 
scious of  the  gain  which  it  had  made.  When  in  1460,  vic- 
torious in  the  field,  Richard  duke  of  York  advanced  in  the 
House  of  Lords  his  better  hereditary  title  to  the  throne  than 
that  of  the  house  of  Lancaster,  and  demanded  recognition  of 
it,  one  point  of  the  reply  to  him  was  that  the  title  of  the 
house  of  Lancaster  by  statute  was  better  than  any  other  kind 
of  title.  When  Richard  accepted  the  compromise  which 
Parliament  proposed,  he  practically  recognized  this  fact. 
The  right  of  the  Parliament  to  do  all  that  it  did  when  it  de- 
posed James  II.  and  set  aside  the  rightful  line  of  the  Stuarts 
in  favor  of  the  house  of  Hanover,  was  fully  established  by 
the  precedents  of  1399. 

556.  The  Progress  of  the  Fourteenth  Century.  —  The  fif- 
teenth century  is  one  of  far  less  activity  in  constitution  mak- 
ing than  either  the  twelfth  or  the  thirteenth.  The  position 
of  Henry  IV.  made  him  dependent  upon  Parliament,  and 
he  reigned  in  many  respects  almost  like  a  modern  constitu- 
tional monarch,  and  this  had  an  effect  to  secure  all  that  had 
been  already  gained  and  fix  it  in  the  familiar  habits  of  the 
nation.  In  many  minor  details  Parliament  enlarged  or  de- 
fined its  rights  during  the  period. 

The  House  of  Commons  secured  the  right  to  originate  all 
bills  relating  to  money ;  the  principle  was  established  that  the 
wording  of  acts  of  Parliament  once  passed  should  not  after- 
wards be  changed  ;  the  dangerous  power  was  assumed  of  pun- 
ishing great  opponents,  not  by  impeachment,  but  by  bill  of 
attainder,  an  act  of  Parliament  declaring  a  person  guilty  and 
fixing  his  punishment  without  trial :  a  most  dangerous  power 
of  which  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  has  been  wisely 
deprived,  and  which  will  never  again  be  exercised  in  England 
so  long  as  the  cabinet  system  of  government  lasts.  The  right 
to  determine  upon  regencies  was  repeatedly  exercised  and 


The  question 
between  the 
houses  of 
York  and 
Lancaster. 
Stubbs, 
Cons.  Hist.y 
III.,  Sec.  677. 


Constitu- 
tional gov- 
ernment 
becomes 
habitual. 


Cons,  of 
U.  S.,  I. 
ix.  3. 


526 


The  Anglo-Saxon  Constitutions 


[§557 


Freedom  of 

debate. 

Medley, 

Manual, 

Sec.  37 ; 

Tuswell- 

Langmead, 

Cons.  Hist., 

268-272. 


An  evidence 
of  the 
progress 
already 
made. 
See  passage 
from 

Fortesque, 
Taswell- 
Langmead, 
Cons.  Hist., 
301-303. 
A  time  of 
danger  to  the 
constitu- 
tion. 


Tendency  of 
the  Yorkist 
kings  to  in- 
dependence. 


insisted  upon  ;  the  freedom  of  speech  of  members,  the  right 
not  to  be  called  in  question  elsewhere  for  things  said  in  debate, 
and  their  freedom  from  arrest  during  the  sessions  of  Parlia- 
ment were  established  in  principle,  though  not  always  after- 
wards perfectly  respected ;  and  finally  the  decision  of  dis- 
puted election  cases  and  the  fixing  of  the  qualifications  for 
exercising  the  right  of  suffrage,  and  for  membership  in  the 
House  of  Commons  were  assumed  by  Parliament. 

None  of  these  points  is  of  particular  importance  in  itself, 
but  taken  all  together  they  form  a  considerable  body  of 
privilege,  and  coming  all  within  a  short  period  of  less  than 
fifty  years  they  show  us  what  extensive  powers  Parliament 
must  already  have  gained  to  occupy  itself  during  a  time  par- 
ticularly favorable  to  its  pretensions  with'  such  relatively  un- 
important matters  only. 

557.  The  Yorkist  Period.  — The  last  half  of  the  fifteenth 
century  was  filled  with  the  Wars  of  the  Roses,  a  time  unfa- 
vorable to  large  constitutional  growth.  Indeed,  the  period 
when  the  Yorkist  kings  were  in  power  was  a  time  of  no 
small  danger  to  Parliament  and  the  constitution.  The  fact 
that  their  case  required  them  to  insist  on  the  superior  right 
of  a  hereditary  title  to  the  throne  brought  them  into  collision 
with  one  of  the  powers  which  Parliament  had  acquired  which 
was  most  essential  to  the  life  of  the  constitution,  the  power 
of  determining  who  should  be  king. 

The  Yorkist  kings  also  show  a  decided  tendency  to  seek  for 
an  independent  revenue,  and,  so  far  as  circumstances  would 
allow,  to  rule  without  Parliament.  Yet  on  the  whole  the  con- 
stitution lost  nothing.  Richard  III.  was  compelled  to  some 
dependence  on  Parliament  for  his  title,  and  the  power  of  the 
House  of  Commons  was  revealed  at  times  by  the  anxiety  of 
the  government  to  get  it  packed  with  its  own  supporters. 
Still  more  decisive  was  the  fact  that  the  period  was  too  short 
and  too  tumultuous  to  allow  an  absolutism  to  become  fixed 
in  the  government. 

The  battle  of  Bosworth  Field  and  the  accession  of  Henry 
VII.  were  incidents  in  the  Wars  of  the  Roses,  and  yet  the 


558?  559]       Circumstances  of  Tudor  Age 


527 


overthrow  of  Richard  III.  was  a  revolution  which  protected 
the  constitution  as  truly  as  did  that  of  1399,  though  from  a 
less  immediate  danger.  Edward  IV.  and  Richard  III.  were 
abler  sovereigns  than  any  that  have  followed  them  in  English 
history  with  the  exception,  perhaps,  of  Elizabeth  and  Wil- 
liam III. ;  but  a  constitutional  monarchy  has  no  place  for  able 
sovereigns.  They  are  always  a  dangerous  menace  or  a  nui- 
sance, and  the  Yorkist  kings  were  plainly  tending  to  a  policy 
dangerous  to  the  constitution. 

558.  The  Tudor  Period.  —  The  Tudor  period  is  commonly 
called  that  of  the  absolute  monarchy  in  English  history. 
And  it  certainly  is  so  in  a  sense.  The  sovereigns  showed 
tendencies  decidedly  like  those  of  the  Yorkist  kings.  The 
constitution  was  severely  strained  and  in  some  points  even 
broken.  Many  times  the  monarch  imposed  his  will  on  a 
nation,  reluctant,  to  say  the  least.  But  the  absolute  power 
of  the  Tudors  was  as  far  asunder  as  possible  from  that  abso- 
lutism, with  no  institutions  to  check  or  limit  it,  which  was 
exercised  during  the  same  time  by  the  king  of  France.  Cer- 
tain peculiar  circumstances  of  the  historical  situation,  partly 
affecting  the  sovereigns  and  partly  affecting  the  nation,  pre- 
served the  underlying  principles  of  the  constitution  uninjured, 
and  kept  the  monarch  and  the  Parliament  from  ever  coming 
into  direct  collision  with  one  another. 

559.  The  Peculiar  Circumstances  of  the  Tudor  Age. — 
There  were  three  of  these  circumstances  most  important  to 
notice.  First  was  the  question  of  title  to  the  throne,  affect- 
ing all  but  Henry  VIII.  and  Edward  VI.,  and  compelling  a 
recognition  of  the  supreme  authority  of  Parliament  on  this 
most  fundamental  matter.  Indeed,  the  two  kings  named 
are  not  real  exceptions,  because  the  reign  of  Edward  was 
practically  all  a  minority  under  a  regency  deriving  its  author- 
ity from  Parliament,  and  Henry  VIII.  was  compelled  by  his 
own  situation  to  recognize  the  supreme  authority  of  Parlia- 
ment in  this  particular,  and  did  so  when  he  allowed  it  to 
confer  on  him  the  right  to  fix  the  order  of  succession  among 
his  heirs. 


The  over- 
throw of 
Richard  III. 
indirectly  a 
constitu- 
tional 
revolution. 


The  charac- 
ter of  the 
Tudor 
absolutism. 
Montague, 
Elements, 
92-104. 


The  question 

of  the 

succession. 

Taswell- 

Langmead, 

Cons.  Hist., 

179-181. 


S28 


The  Aiiglo- Saxon  Constitutions 


[§560 


Prothero, 
118-126. 


The  second  was  the  rapid  development  of  international 
politics,  which  created  a  great  community  of  the  European 
states,  and  bound  them  in  a  close  and  intricate  struggle  for 
leadership,  so  that  questions  of  foreign  policy  now  began  to 
influence  the  conduct  of  domestic  affairs  in  a  way  they  had 
never  done  before.  This  was  intimately  connected  at  first 
with  the  question  of  the  succession,  and  in  the  last  part  of 
the  period  with  the  third  of  these  circumstances. 

This  third  was  the  general  condition  produced  by  the 
great  revolution  which  swept  over  all  Europe  in  the  reforma- 
tion of  Luther,  creating  new  and  more  intense  issues,  and 
dividing  almost  every  nation  into  two  bitterly  hostile  parties. 
For  England  this  quickly  became  a  question  of  national  in- 
dependence, and  made  the  country  willing  to  support  the 
cautious  and  carefully  balanced  policy  of  Elizabeth,  even  at 
the  cost  of  overlooking  some  disregard  of  the  constitution, 
of  which,  however,  they  were  perfectly  conscious. 

560.  Details  of  Tudor  Action.  —  The  special  details  of 
the  unconstitutional  action  of  the  Tudors  are  not  so  many 
in  number  as  they  are  grave  in  principle.  Forced  loans  and 
other  illegal  means  of  avoiding  a  financial  dependence  on 
the  legislature,  and  at  times  long  intervals  between  Parlia- 
ments ;  arbitrary  methods  of  trial  by  a  sort  of  royal  preroga- 
tive in  the  court  of  the  Star  Chamber,  and  equally  arbitrary 
arrests  and  imprisonments  both  of  which  tended  to  destroy 
the  safeguards  of  individual  liberty  existing  in  the  ordinary 
courts  ;  interference  with  the  freedom  of  debate,  going  so 
far  even  as  the  imprisonment  of  members  of  the  House  of 
Commons  in  the  Tower  ;  and  the  insisting  that  royal  proc- 
lamations should  have  the  force  of  statute  law,  a  claim 
which  for  a  few  years  and  in  special  cases  received  the  sanc- 
tion of  Parliament.  Taken  together  these  principles  and 
practices  would  constitute  a  very  strong  arbitrary  govern- 
ment. 

The  dangers  which  had  induced  the  nation  to  submit  be- 
gan to  lessen  in  the  last  years  of  Elizabeth,  and  many  signs 
began  to  appear  which  made  it  evident  that  Parliament  would 


561,  562]     Constitutional  Change  in  the  Church     529 


not  much  longer  endure  the  practical  control  of  everything 
by  the  sovereign's  will.  But  one  not  insignificant  result  of 
the  trend  of  things  during  this  period  was  a  theoretical  ac- 
ceptance and  defence  by  some  of  the  doctrine  of  a  divine 
right  in  kings  of  which  they  cannot  be  deprived,  the  source 
of  a  supreme  power  in  government.  This  doctrine  in  a 
more  developed  form  was  to  play  a  great  part  in  the  consti- 
tutional history  of  the  next  century. 

561.  Institutional  Character  of  the  Tudor  Rule.  —  In 
general  we  may  say  of  the  Tudors  that  theirs  was  an  abso- 
lutism exercised  not  so  much  through  institutions  proper  to 
a  despotic  monarchy,  as  by  imposing  their  will  on  the  nation 
through  the  existing  institutions  of  the  State.  The  nation 
submitted  because  in  a  grave  crisis  of  its  existence  the  sov- 
ereign's policy  seemed  wise  and  had  the  support  of  public 
opinion,  while  to  resist  too  far  the  sovereign's  method  would 
only  increase  the  most  serious  danger  of  the  time,  the  con- 
stantly threatened  civil  war. 

The  royal  exercise  of  power  was  not  unlike  that  of  an 
American  "boss,"  who  decides  all  questions  of  policy  by  his 
irresponsible  will,  but  without  any  visible  change  of  the  con- 
stitution. Perhaps  a  still  better  parallel  would  be  the  present 
government  of  Germany,  because  there  the  supremacy  of  the 
sovereign's  will  is  accompanied  with  some  departure  from 
the  constitution,  and  because  intelligent  Germans  justify  the 
nation's  submission  on  similar  grounds  of  expediency.  For 
England  the  method  of  the  Tudor  absolutism  meant  that  all 
constitutional  rights  were  still  in  existence,  ready  to  be  put 
into  force  when  the  nation  should  judge  that  the  time  had 
come. 

562.  The  Constitutional  Change  in  the  Position  of  the 
Church.  —  In  one  particular  there  had  been  a  great  consti- 
tutional change  during  the  age  of  the  Tudors.  Whatever 
one  may  think  of  the  method  by  which  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land had  been  made  independent  of  the  pope,  constitution- 
ally the  result  had  been  to  put  the  Church  completely  under 
the  control  of  the  nation.     What  the  fourteenth  century  had 


"  Divine 
right." 


No  real 
absolutist 
institution. 
Hallam, 
Cons.  Hist., 
I.,  last  pages 
of  Chap.  V. 


Germany. 


53Q 


The  Anglo-Saxon  Constitutions     [§§  5 


The  opening 
of  a  new  era. 


The  attitude 
of  the  kings. 


Personal 
character- 
istics. 


The  question 
of  title. 
Hallam, 
Cons.  Hist., 
I.,  first  pages 
of  Chap.  VI.; 
Prothero, 
250. 


done  in  subjecting  the  monarchy  to  Parliament,  the  six 
did  on  the  ecclesiastical  side  of  public  affairs  in  subj» 
the  Church  to  Parliament.     The  supremacy  of  the  ki 
the  head  of  the  Church  was  in  many  respects  real  durin    me 
Tudor  period,  but  when  Parliament  had  once  recovert      ts 
place  this  function  of  the  sovereign  like  every  other  was 
under  national  control. 

563.  Character  of  the  Stuart  Period.  —  With  the  acces- 
sion of  James  I.,  the  first  of  the  Stuart  kings,  there  opened 
a  new  age  in  the  history  of  the  English  constitution.    .The 
period  of  the  suspension  of  parliamentary  control  had  come 
to  an  end.     The  time  of  national  danger,  when  it  was  neces- 
sary that  the  strength  of  the  State  should  be  directed  by  a 
single  will,  and  when  civil  strife  was  more  dangerous  thai 
temporary  submission   to   arbitrary   government,  was   no1 
past.     Parliament  was  ready  to  resume  its  direction  of  th« 
nation's  policy,  and  to  begin  once  more  the  steady  buildin: 
up  of  the  constitution. 

These  intentions  of  Parliament  came  by  degrees,  however, 
into  direct  collision  with  the  intentions  of  the  kings.  The 
Stuart  kings  were  by  no  means  disposed  to  surrender  the 
influence  over  public  affairs  which  the  Tudor  kings  had 
exercised. 

564.  Reasons  for  the  Attitude  of  the  Kings.  — The  atti- 
tude of  the  kings  was  partly  due  to  the  personal  character- 
istics of  the  Stuart  family.  Nearly  all  its  members  were  men 
of  small  intellectual  gifts,  of  little  political  insight,  short- 
sighted and  of  poor  judgment,  but  with  the  highest  ideas 
of  their  own  rights,  and  with  that  determined  obstinacy  of 
purpose  which  often  accompanies  these  other  character- 
istics. 

The  attitude  of  James  I.  to  the  constitution  was  also 
partly  due  to  the  fact  that  by  the  parliamentary  arrangement 
of  the  succession,  made  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.,  his  title 
to  the  throne  had  been  postponed  to  that  of  the  descend- 
ants of  Henry's  younger  sister,  Mary.  It  is  evident  that  on 
the  death  of  Elizabeth,  the  will  of  the  nation  was  entirely 


'  566]      Slow  Advance  towards  War  531 

/or  of  the  accession  of  the  king  of  Scotland.     There 

in  fact,  no  real  opposition  to  it.     But  the  existence  of 

legal  defect  in  his  title  seems  to  have  disposed  James 

nphasize  the  indefeasible  right  of  hereditary  succession 

;        to  have  prepared  the  way  for  a  union,  which  was  indeed 

an  entirely  natural  one   between  the  Stuart  kings  and  the 

growing  party  of  those  who  held  to  the  doctrine  of  divine 

right. 

565.   A  Third  Reason  of  Strife,  the  Religious  Parties.  —  The 

One  further  reason  of  the  fact  that  the  constitutional  history  conservatlve 

J    party, 
of  England  in  the  seventeenth  century  passes  through  a 

great  civil  war,  is  to  be  found  in  the  gradual  separation  of 

"the  nation  into  two   great  parties  on  religious  questions. 

r:One  of  these,  while  desiring  to  free  the  national  Church 

from  the  government  of  the  pope,  and  to  change  the  most 

distinctive  of  the  Roman  Catholic  doctrines,  like  that  of 

■^trans-substantiation,  was  disposed  to  retain  just  as  much  as 

possible  of  the  old  church  both  in  organization  and  in  forms, 

Omd  was  unwilling  to  take  formal  sides  on  minor  points  of 

doctrine  with  any  of  the  sects  which  were  arising  in  the 

Protestant  world. 

On  the  other  hand  a  large  and  increasing  body  in  the  The  Puritan 
nation  was  determined  to  carry  the  reformation  further,  both  party* 
in  doctrines  and  in  forms,  and  in  the  matter  of  organization 
wished  to  give  the  national  Church  a  constitution  which 
would  make  it  republican  in  government,  or  even  demo- 
cratic. The  fact  that  this  body  was  strongly  inclined  to 
the  spirit  and  teachings  of  Calvinism,  which  was  a  fighting 
faith,  made  it  ready  to  take  up  arms  and  enter  upon  a  civil 
war  in  defence  of  what  it  believed  to  be  the  right.  Each 
of  these  two  parties  found  itself  to  a  considerable  extent  in  a 
natural  alliance  :  the  one  with  the  idea  of  the  divine  right 
of  kings  to  govern,  and  the  other  with  that  of  parliamentary 
supremacy. 

566.    Slow  Advance  towards  War.  —  During  the  reign  of   Nearly  a  half 
James  I.  there  was  a  growing  opposition  between  the  king   century  of 
and  the  Parliament,  a  growing  determination  on  the  part  of   ment. 


532 


The  Anglo-Saxon  Constitutions     [§§  567>  56J 


each  to  insist  on  what  it  believed  to  be  constitutionally  right ; 
but  there  was  no  open  breach  between  them  and  no  irrec- 
oncilable conflict.  In  the  reign  of  Charles  I.  matters  by 
degrees  progressed  to  a  square  issue  between  king  and 
Parliament. 

567.  The  Second  Great  Constitutional  Document. — Very 
soon  after  the  accession  of  Charles,  Parliament  drew  up  the 
second  in  the  series  of  great  constitutional  documents  which 
declare  and  confirm  our  liberties,  the  Magna  Charta  being 
counted  the  first.  This  is  called  the  Petition  of  Right,  and 
it  was  made  a  statute  law  with  the  consent  of  the  king  in 
1628.  It  is  exactly  similar  in  spirit  and  character  with  the 
line  of  great  documents  already  referred  to,  for  its  purpose 
is  to  state  the  rights  of  all  citizens  which  have  been  infringed 
by  the  action  of  the  king,  and  to  secure  them  from  such 
infringement  in  the  future.  But  though  he  had  consented 
to  this  statute,  Charles  had  no  intention  of  abandoning  what 
he  regarded  as  his  rightful  prerogatives,  and  before  many 
months  this  Parliament  was  dissolved  by  the  king  in  anger 
at  its  insistance  upon  its  own  will. 

568.  The  Period  of  Rule  without  Parliament.  —  The 
king  now  resolved  to  rule  without  a  Parliament  and  was  able 
to  do  so  for  eleven  years.  The  greatest  difficulty  of  such 
a  method  of  government  was  to  provide  a  sufficient  revenue, 
for  all  the  usual  sources  of  income  were  now  dependent  on 
the  consent  of  Parliament.  The  ingenuity  of  one  of  the 
king's  ministers  revived  an  old  form  of  taxation,  called 
"ship-money,"  by  which  the  king  had  apparently  the  right 
to  require  the  different  cities  and  counties  to  furnish  ships  for 
the  defence  of  the  kingdom,  and  this  was  used  to  obtain 
money  ostensibly  for  the  strengthening  of  the  navy,  but 
really  for  the  ordinary  expenses  of  the  State.  The  refusal 
of  Hampden  to  pay  this  tax  led  to  a  trial  of  the  case  in  the 
courts,  and  though  the  judges  decided  in  favor  of  the  king, 
the  nation  was  aroused  to  a  consciousness  of  the  danger. 

Just  at  this  moment  the  king  had  involved  himself  in  a 
war  with  the  Scottish  people  by  attempting  to  force  them  to 


§§  5^9>  57°]      Further  Concessions  of  the  King         533 


use  a  liturgy  in  church  services  to  which  they  were  bitterly 
opposed.  They  drew  up  in  consequence  the  famous 
"  Covenant,"  and  took  arms  in  its  defence.  The  expense 
of  this  war  could  not  be  met  without  more  regular  sources 
of  income,  and  Charles  was  forced  to  call  a  Parliament, 
which  met  in  April,  1640,  but  remained  in  session  only 
three  weeks.  No  agreement  could  be  reached  about  the 
ship-money,  and  the  king  again  dissolved  the  Parliament  in 
anger. 

569.  Charles  forced  to  a  Temporary  Submission.  —  For  a 
few  months  Charles  managed  to  sustain  himself  by  even 
more  arbitrary  methods  than  before,  but  the  failure  of  his 
campaign  against  the  Scots  turned  the  feeling  of  the  army 
against  him,  and  he  was  forced  to  yield.  In  November 
Parliament  met  again,  a  Parliament  which  was  to  continue 
in  existence  until  after  the  death  of  the  king,  and  which  is 
known  as  the  Long  Parliament.  At  the  beginning  of  this 
Parliament  the  popular  or  constitutional  party  was  very 
strong,  and  its  spirit  was  one  of  most  determined  opposition 
to  the  arbitrary  government  of  the  king. 

Its  first  act  was  to  impeach  the  earl  of  Strafford,  the 
king's  minister,  of  treason.  The  feeling  was  especially  bitter 
against  him  because  he  had  been  earlier  one  of  the  leaders 
of  the  popular  party,  but  had  now  gone  completely  over 
to  the  king.  When  it  was  found  that  under  the  statute  of 
treason  he  could  not  be  proved  guilty  of  that  crime,  Parlia- 
ment accomplished  its  purpose  by  passing  a  bill  of  attainder, 
that  is,  a  special  law  declaring  him  guilty,  and  sentencing 
him  to  death  by  act  of  Parliament.  Strafford  hoped  to  the 
last  that  the  king  would  save  him,  but  Charles  was  not  yet 
ready  to  accept  the  full  personal  responsibility  of  his  con- 
duct by  coming  to  an  open  breach  with  Parliament,  and 
preferred  to  sacrifice  his  minister. 

570.  Further  Concessions  of  the  King.  —  Parliament  then 
proceeded  to  strike  at  the  measures  of  the  king.  Ship- 
money  and  the  Star  Chamber  tribunal  were  declared  illegal, 
and  an  act  was  passed  to  enable  Parliament  to  meet  without 


534 


The  Anglo-Saxon  Constitutions  [§  571 


The  king  not 
trusted. 


The  party  of 
moderate 
royalists 
growing. 


The  Grand 
Remon- 
strance. 
Boyle, 
Clarendon, 
82-85; 
text, 

Gardiner, 
127;  Old 
South,  24. 

The  case  of 
the  five 
members. 
Taswell- 
I^angmead, 

496-503 ; 

Boyle, 

Clarendon, 

88-94. 


the  sanction  of  the  king,  if  he  should  allow  three  years  to 
pass  without  calling  it  together.  To  these  and  other  de- 
mands Charles  seemed  readily  to  give  way,  and  if  his  con- 
cessions had  been  honest  and  the  Parliament  could  have 
had  confidence  that  his  future  conduct  would  have  been  in 
accord  with  them,  the  English  constitution  would  have  been 
preserved  without  any  violent  or  unconstitutional  measures. 

It  was  perfectly  evident,  however,  that  the  king  regarded 
these  concessions  as  only  temporary,  and  that,  as  soon  as 
circumstances  enabled  him  to  do  so,  he  would  declare  them 
void  because  they  had  been  extorted  from  him  by  force. 
This  made  the  most  earnest  defenders  of  the  constitution 
very  suspicious  and  watchful,  and  disposed  to  more  extreme 
measures. 

On  the  other  hand  many,  who  up  to  this  time  had  been 
acting  with  the  opposition  to  the  king,  began  now  to  think 
that  enough  had  been  demanded  of  him,  and  that  further 
concessions  would  reduce  the  royal  power  to  a  shadow.  As 
a  result,  the  constitutional  party  in  Parliament  began  to  de- 
crease in  numbers  and  the  moderate  supporters  of  the  king 
to  grow  more  numerous. 

571.  The  King  determines  to  resist.  —  In  these  circum- 
stances, at  the  opening  of  the  second  session  of  the  Long 
Parliament,  the  popular  party  proposed  the  adoption  by  the 
Commons  of  the  Grand  Remonstrance,  a  formal  declaration 
of  their  position,  and  to  appeal  to  the  support  of  the  nation. 
This  they  were  able  to  carry  by  only  a  small  majority.  Now 
Charles  determined  to  abandon  the  policy  of  concession 
and  to  adopt  that  of  resistance. 

His  first  step  was  to  lay  before  the  House  of  Lords  an  im- 
peachment of  treason  of  five  members  of  the  Commons, 
including  Hampden  and  Pym,  the  leaders  of  the  constitu- 
tional party.  This  was  an  illegal  step  on  the  part  of  the 
king,  since  he  had  no  right  to  make  use  of  an  impeachment 
trial,  but  only  of  a  jury  trial  in  the  ordinary  courts.  A  still 
greater  violation  of  right  was  his  invasion  in  person  of  the 
House  of  Commons  to  try  to  arrest  the  five  members.     The 


§  572]  Character  of  the  Commonwealth 


535 


attempt  was  a  failure,  and  the  incident  served  only  to  em- 
bitter both  sides  and  to  aid  in  convincing  them  both  that  an 
appeal  to  force  would  ultimately  be  necessary. 

The  open  issue  came  on  a  struggle  between  the  king  and 
the  parliamentary  party  for  the  control  of  the  militia  in  the 
counties  on  which  much  would  depend  if  civil  strife  should 
begin.  The  Parliament  was  successful  in  this  because  the 
popular  sympathy  was  on  its  side,  but  Charles  would  not  give 
his  consent  to  their  arrangements,  and  on  the  2  2d  of  August 
raised  his  standard  at  Nottingham  and  began  the  civil  war. 

572.  The  Constitutional  Character  of  the  Commonwealth. 
—  We  are  not  concerned  here  with  the  details  of  the  "  Great 
Rebellion."  The  governments  of  the  Commonwealth  and 
of  the  Protectorate  are  hardly  in  line  with  the  special,  or 
perhaps  it  would  be  more  accurate  to  say  with  the  con- 
temporary, development  of  the  English  constitution.  But 
they  are  in  harmony  with  the  deeper  spirit  of  that  develop- 
ment which  was  already  at  that  time  showing  itself,  as  it 
has  since  continued  to  do,  in  the  wider  Anglo-Saxon  world 
beyond  the  seas,  and  which  has  come  into  control  in  Eng- 
land also,  in  reality  if  not  in  form,  in  the  last  part  of  the 
nineteenth  century. 

Before  the  organization  of  the  commonwealth,  the  Puri- 
tan party  had  founded  in  New  England  a  series  of  republics 
with  a  strong  ultimate  tendency  towards  democracy,  and  the 
other  colonies  in  America,  as  all  later  English  colonies  have 
been,  were  virtual  republics,  with  the  same  democratic  ten- 
dency more  or  less  perfectly  realized  according  to  circum- 
stances. 

The  constitutional  documents  of  the  commonwealth  pe- 
riod have  an  especial  interest  for  us  because  of  a  certain 
resemblance  in  some  of  the  innovations  which  they  made, 
which  were  to  pass  out  of  use  immediately  in  England, 
with  expedients  which  the  framers  of  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States  afterwards  adopted.  The  written  con- 
stitution itself  is  one  of  these  which  has  never  been  adopted 
in  England.     But  the  monarchical  drift  was  too  strong  in 


The  war 
begun. 
Gardiner, 
164-182. 


Not  in  the 
direct  line 
of  English 
develop- 
ment. 


A  slight 
foreshadow- 
ing of 
American 
institutions. 
See 

Gardiner, 
270  and  314 
Old  South, 
26  and  27. 


536 


The  Anglo-Saxon  Constitutions      [§§  573>  574 


The  com- 
monwealth 
becomes  a 
monarchy. 


Charles  II. 
Boyle, 
Clarendon, 
286-290. 


James  II. 


His  arbitrary 

acts. 

Taswell- 

Langmead, 

Cons.  Hist., 

S30-538 ; 

Montague, 

Elements, 

144-146. 


William  of 
Orange 
invited  to 
England. 


England  in  the  seventeenth  century.  Few  of  the  Puritans 
themselves  were  out-and-out  republicans.  Very  likely  also 
the  situation  really  demanded  a  king,  and  the  common- 
wealth passed  into  what  was  really  a  strong  monarchy  under 
the  Protectorate. 

573.  The  Later  Stuarts. — The  Restoration  in  1660 
brought  the  Stuarts  back  in  the  person  of  Charles  II.  He 
had  learned  some  wisdom  from  the  past,  and  was  careful 
not  to  allow  himself  to  come  to  an  open  breach  with  the 
Parliament,  though  in  the  last  years  of  his  reign  he  showed 
a  decided  tendency  to  arbitrary  methods,  and  seemed  to 
be  preparing  the  way  for  an  absolutism. 

His  brother,  James  II.,  had  the  Stuart  characteristics  in 
their  worst  form.  He  was  extremely  short-sighted,  obsti- 
nate, and  determined  to  rule  by  his  own  will;  and  his 
attack  on  the  constitution  was  nearly  as  thorough-going 
as  that  of  Richard  II.,  though  it  never  had  any  chance  of 
success.  He  ordered  the  illegal  collection  of  taxes ;  gath- 
ered a  standing  army  of  unusual  size  with  which  he  hoped 
to  overawe  opposition;  forced  the  judges  to  support  his 
policy;  and  with  their  aid  exercised  the  right  which  he 
claimed  of  suspending  the  operation  of  laws.  So  rapid  was 
the  development  of  the  king's  purposes,  and  so  great  the 
fear  of  the  Roman  Catholic  religion,  which  he  openly  pro- 
fessed, that  all  parties  were  united  in  a  determination  to 
protect  the  constitution. 

574.  The  Revolution  of  1688.  —  The  crisis  was  brought 
on  by  the  birth  of  the  Prince  of  Wales.  Till  that  event, 
the  Princess  Mary,  wife  of  William  of  Orange,  had  been 
the  heir  of  the  throne,  and  the  nation  had  had  reason  to 
expect  a  change  on  the  death  of  James.  Now  this  hope 
was  destroyed,  and  revolution  seemed  the  only  recourse. 
An  invitation  was  at  once  sent  to  William  by  leaders  of 
both  parties,  and  on  the  5th  of  November,  1688,  he  landed 
in  England  with  a  small  force.  James'  power  immediately 
crumbled  in  his  hands.  His  supporters  abandoned  him, 
and  in  six  weeks  he  was  a  fugitive  in  France. 


5761    Constitutional  Questions  in  the  Colonies     537 


With  the  expulsion  of  James  II.  the  last  attempt  failed 
which  any  English  sovereign  has  made  to  throw  off  the 
bonds  which  the  gradual  growth  of  the  constitution  had 
placed  on  the  exercise  of  an  arbitrary  authority.  Some 
later  kings  have  attempted  to  influence  the  policy  of  the 
State  according  to  their  own  ideas,  but  never  to  the  extent 
of  an  open  breach  with  the  constitution. 

575.  The  Results  of  the  Revolution. — The  convention 
Parliament,  which  assembled  soon  after  the  flight  of  James, 
drew  up  a  formal  statement  of  the  arbitrary  acts  of  the 
king  and  declared  them  illegal,  and  it  was  on  the  con- 
dition of  accepting  this  declaration  that  William  and  Mary 
obtained  the  throne.  This  declaration  was  soon  afterwards 
embodied  in  a  regular  statute,  called  the  Bill  of  Rights, 
and  takes  its  place  among  the  great  constitutional  docu- 
ments of  our  history.  Some  of  its  clauses  are  closely  copied 
in  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 

So  far  as  the  larger  principles  of  the  constitution  are 
concerned,  the  revolution  of  1688  did  no  more  than  to 
restore  what  already  existed  under  the  Lancastrian  kings 
in  the  fifteenth  century,  but  these  principles  were  now 
defined  in  the  clearest  way  and  rendered  safe  from  any 
future  attack.  The  attempt  of  the  Stuart  kings  to  free 
themselves  from  restraint  had  led  to  a  more  definite  un- 
derstanding of  the  constitution,  and  this  was  a  gain  of  the 
greatest  importance. 

In  minor  points  some  positive  advance  had  been  made  : 
in  establishing  the  independence  of  the  judges,  so  that 
in  the  future  they  could  not  be  used  as  the  tools  of  the 
executive ;  in  placing  the  army  more  completely  under 
the  control  of  the  legislature ;  and  in  protecting  the  citi- 
zen more  perfectly  from  arbitrary  arrest  and  unfair  trial. 

576.  Constitutional  Questions  in  the  Colonies.  —  In  the 
meantime  the  English  colonies  in  America  had  so  increased 
in  population  and  strength  that  they  had  become  themselves 
interested  in  constitutional  questions,  and  that  the  govern- 
ment at  home  had  begun  to  look  upon  their  virtual  indepen- 


No  revolu- 
tion again 
necessary  in 
England. 
Medley, 
Manual, 
Sees.  45 
and  46. 

The  Bill  of 
Rights. 
Text,  Old 
South,  19; 
Stubbs, 
523;  Lieber, 
Civil  Liberty; 
Taswell- 
Langmead, 
Cons.  Hist., 
.543- 


538 


The  Anglo-Saxon  Constitutions 


577,  578 


The  govern- 
ment of 
Andros. 


Struggle  to 
subject  the 
executive  to 
the  legislat- 
ure. 


Perfection  of 
details. 


Act  of 
Settlement. 
Montague, 
Elements, 

153-156; 

text,  Stubbs, 

528; 

Taswell- 

Langmead, 

Cons.  Hist., 

551- 

Growth  of 

cabinet 

system. 

Montague, 

Elements, 

163-173. 

Difference  in 
executive 


dence  with  some  suspicion.  The  last  two  Stuarts  included 
a  consolidation  and  increase  of  the  royal  authority  in 
America  among  their  plans,  and  towards  the  close  of  the 
reign  of  Charles  I.  the  charter  of  Massachusetts  was  annulled. 

Soon  after  Sir  Edmund  Andros  was  made  governor  of  all 
the  northern  colonies  and  established  a  "  tyranny  "  in  America 
similar  to  that  of  James  II.  in  England,  but  on  the  news  of 
the  revolution  in  the  mother  country  he  was  at  once  de- 
prived of  power  and  thrown  into  prison. 

In  most  of  the  colonies  the  history  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury is  the  story  of  a  struggle  between  the  appointed  royal 
governors  and  the  elected  legislatures,  in  which  the  legislat- 
ures were  winning  more  and  more  power  by  taking  advan- 
tage of  the  financial  necessities  of  the  executives,  a  process 
which  is  closely  like  in  detail,  and  entirely  so  in  principle, 
to  that  by  which  the  Parliament  in  England  had  established 
its  power  over  the  king. 

577.  Progress  in  the  Eighteenth  Century  in  England.  — 
The  constitutional  history  of  the  eighteenth  century  in  Eng- 
land continues  that  of  the  revolution.  Some  of  the  great 
principles  were  more  clearly  defined,  some  minor  advances 
made,  and  some  better  government  machinery  devised.  The 
Act  of  Settlement,  by  which  the  throne  was  secured  to  the 
house  of  Hanover,  proclaimed  in  the  clearest  way  the  right 
of  Parliament  to  declare  who  should  be  king,  and  to  give  a 
title  to  the  crown  better  than  all  others.  The  civil  liberty 
of  the  citizen  received  further  protection  —  in  the  perfection 
of  the  jury  trial,  for  instance,  and  the  prohibition  of  general 
warrants — and  the  development  of  the  modern  cabinet  sys- 
tem provided  more  simple  machinery  for  the  control  of  the 
policy  of  the  government  by  Parliament,  though  the  perfec- 
tion of  this  new  device  came  only  in  the  nineteenth  century. 

578.  The  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  —  We  have 
already  seen  how  one  result  of  the  struggle  between  England 
and  France  for  colonial  empire  was  the  independence  of  the 
thirteen  colonies.  When  the  Americans  came  to  frame  their 
Constitution,  the  fact  that  they  wished  to  create  a  republic 


§579] 


Tendency  towards  Democracy 


539 


instead  of  a  monarchy  led  to  some  changes  of  form  from  the 
English  constitution.  The  most  important  of  these  changes 
from  the  constitution  as  it  then  existed  in  England  was  the 
fact  that  both  the  executive  and  the  upper  house  of  the  na- 
tional legislature  were  made  elective,  and  both  these  institu- 
tions were  given  such  a  place  in  the  government  that  in  the 
hundred  years  since  their  founding  both  have  gained  in 
power  rather  than  lost  it,  as  in  England. 

The  difference  in  form  which  seems  to  us  now  the  most 
striking  is  that  in  the  relation  of  the  cabinet  to  the  lower 
house,  but  it  must  be  remembered  that  at  the  close  of  the 
eighteenth  century  statesmen  even  in  England  did  not  real- 
ize that  relation  clearly.  It  is  the  experience  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  which  has  brought  the  forms  under  which  the 
House  of  Commons  now  controls  the  cabinet  to  their  full 
perfection. 

In  the  English  system  the  prime  minister  is  the  real  ex- 
ecutive, and  not  the  sovereign.  He  forms  his  cabinet  of 
the  other  leaders  of  his  party,  and  they  hold  office  so  long 
as  the  measures  which  they  propose  command  the  support 
of  a  majority  of  the  House  of  Commons.  When  one  of 
their  measures  is  defeated,  either  the  cabinet  resigns  and  the 
leader  of  the  opposite  party  forms  a  new  one,  or  the  Parlia- 
ment is  dissolved  and  the  voters  of  the  nation  are  asked  to 
decide  between  the  two  lines  of  policy  advocated  by  the 
opposing  parties.  The  election  determines  at  once  whether 
the  old  cabinet  shall  go  on  or  a  new  one  be  formed  from 
the  other  party. 

579.  Tendency  towards  Democracy. — Though  differing 
in  this  way  in  form,  still  in  principle  and  in  almost  all  minor 
details,  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  is  thoroughly 
English.  Other  differences  than  those  of  form  are  chiefly 
more  rapid  advances  along  the  road  which  the  race  had 
long  been  following,  and  in  which  England  herself  was  to 
advance  more  slowly.  This  is  especially  true  of  the  most 
important  of  these  differences  —  the  more  democratic  cast 
of  our  government.     The  colonies  had  always  been  demo- 


and  upper 
house. 


Difference  in 
cabinet. 


The  English 

cabinet 

system. 

Medley, 

Manual, 

Sees.  16-17 ; 

Taswell- 

Langmead, 

Cons.  Hist., 

556-571 ; 

Montague, 

Eletnents, 

215-222. 


Democracy 
adopted  first 
in  America. 


54Q 


The  Anglo-Saxon  Constitutions     [§§  58o>  5Sl 


More 

gradually     « 
adopted  in 
England. 


Widely 
adopted 
throughout 
the  world. 


cratic  in  spirit,  and  though  democracy  was  not  perfectly 
realized  in  practice  at  the  time  the  Constitution  was  adopted, 
still  the  drift  in  that  direction  was  so  strong  and  so  thor- 
oughly in  harmony  with  all  the  tendencies  of  the  race  that 
this  realization  was  not  long  delayed  in  America. 

In  England  the  first  steps  towards  a  more  democratic 
government  would  undoubtedly  have  been  taken  before  the 
close  of  the  eighteenth  century  had  it  not  been  for  the 
French  Revolution,  which  naturally,  but  somewhat  needlessly, 
alarmed  the  property  classes.  As  it  was,  the  first  step  was 
postponed  a  generation,  and  was  finally  taken  in  the  first 
Reform  Bill  which  was  adopted  in  1832.  Since  then,  by  a 
series  of  such  bills  at  intervals,  the  qualifications  required  of 
the  voter  have  been  gradually  reduced  until  now  there  is 
hardly  a  man  in  England  who  cannot  become  a  voter  if  he 
cares  to  be  one. 

580.  Anglo-Saxon  Institutions  in  Other  States.  —  In  the 
past  hundred  years  the  Anglo-Saxon  constitutions  have  been 
widely  adopted  throughout  the  world,  almost  every  civilized 
nation  of  the  present  time  having  imitated  more  or  less 
closely  some  of  our  institutions.  As  most  of  these  states 
retain  monarchical  forms,  and  desire  a  constitution  which 
will  be  at  once  monarchical  in  name  and  republican  in  fact, 
the  English  constitution  has  been  rather  more  extensively 
imitated  than  the  American.  Even  the  French  republic 
follows  the  English  model,  and  it  must  be  admitted  that  the 
English  cabinet  system  secures  to  a  democracy,  more  per- 
fectly than  the  American,  a  control  over  the  government 
policy.  It  is,  however,  open  to  question  whether  this  will 
be  considered  in  the  long  run  an  advantage,  and  whether 
the  American  cabinet  system,  combined  with  a  stronger 
executive,  does  not  furnish  a  check  to  hasty  action  very 
necessary  in  a  thoroughly  democratic  state  —  a  need  which 
England  is  more  likely  to  feel  in  the  twentieth  century  than 
she  has  in  the  nineteenth. 

581.  The  Common  Work  of  England  and  America. — 
Besides  furnishing  an  example  for  the  imitation  of  other 


§  580     Common  Work  of  England  and  America     541 

states,  each  of  the  two  great  Anglo-Saxon  nations  has  had   Different 

its  own  special  mission.     That  of  the  United  States  has  been   Pjiases  of 
r  ,        the  same 

to  establish  these  principles  of  liberty  throughout  an  empire   work# 

nearly  twice  the  extent  of  the  Roman,  and  to  absorb  into 
the  race  and  train  in  self-governing  freedom  millions  of 
aliens  who  have  come  to  them  from  other  nations.  Eng- 
land's has  been  to  establish  the  same  liberty  throughout  vast  ! 
regions  of  the  world,  on  every  continent  and  in  great  island 
states,  and  to  undertake  the  gigantic  task,  greater  even  than 
America's,  of  training  up  to  freedom  millions  upon  millions 
of  alien  and  uneducated  races.  These  are,  in  truth,  but 
different  phases  of  the  same  task,  and  together  in  this  com- 
mon mission,  in  harmony  for  the  political  freedom  and  best 
good  of  all  the  world,  our  race  ought  to  be  able,  both  by 
its  example  and  by  its  power  to  protect  the  right,  to  prevent 
any  further  extension  of  tyranny  and  by  degrees  even  to 
banish  despotism  from  the  world. 


Topics 

Why  is  the  study  of  Anglo-Saxon  institutions  especially  important? 
The  government  of  the  first  Norman  kings.  What  led  to  the  charter 
of  Henry  I.?  The  character  of  this  charter.  How  was  the  principle 
involved  in  the  charter  extended  under  Stephen?  The  government  of 
the  first  Angevin  kings.  Describe  the  judicial  system  organized  by 
Henry  II.  What  do  we  derive  from  it?  Why  was  King  John  involved 
in  special  difficulties  about  taxation?  How  did  this  lead  to  the  Magna 
Charta?  The  contents  and  meaning  of  the  Magna  Charta.  Its  special 
importance  in  the  growth  of  the  constitution.     How  was  the  right  of 


542  The  Anglo-Saxon  Constitutions 

insurrection  used  under  John  and  under  Henry  III.?  The  beginning 
of  the  idea  of  a  limited  monarchy.  The  steps  which  led  to  the  forma- 
tion of  Parliament.  What  were  knights  of  the  shire?  What  led  to 
their  use  as  county  representatives?  The  first  town  representation. 
The  "  model  Parliament."  Just  what  was  the  institutional  change  which 
created  Parliament  ?  How  did  Parliament  secure  finally  the  right  to 
control  taxation  ?  State  the  four  great  rights  established  by  Parliament 
in  the  fourteenth  century,  and  how  each  was  gained.  In  how  far  was 
England  then  a  limited  monarchy  ?  What  was  involved  in  the  revolu- 
tion of  1399  ?  How  was  the  right  of  deposition  established,  and  of 
what  earlier  right  was  it  the  logical  outcome  ?  How  was  this  right 
carried  still  further  in  1399  ?  Later  development  of  this  right.  The 
progress  of  the  Lancastrian  period.  The  constitution  in  the  Yorkist 
period.  The  institutional  character  of  Tudor  absolutism.  What  cir- 
cumstances of  the  time  made  a  strong  government  necessary  ?  Specific 
instances  of  Tudor  arbitrary  rule.  Change  in  the  constitutional  position 
of  the  Church.  In  what  respects  was  the  situation  changed  at  the  ac- 
cession of  the  Stuarts?  Reasons  for  the  attitude  of  the  kings.  Parties 
in  England.  Character  of  the  Petition  of  Right.  The  steps  which  led 
to  civil  war.  What  constitutional  rights  were  involved  ?  Construct 
Charles  I.'s  argument  for  his  case.  The  relation  of  the  commonwealth 
to  the  growth  of  the  constitution.  The  policy  of  the  later  Stuarts. 
Compare  the  revolution  of  1688  with  that  of  1399.  The  Bill  of  Rights. 
What  did  the  revolution  of  1688  accomplish  ?  How  were  the  colonies 
involved  in  the  Stuart  troubles  ?  What  were  their  own  constitutional 
problems  ?  The  eighteenth  century  in  England.  Why  was  not  the 
American  Constitution  exactly  like  the  English  ?  What  are  the  chief 
differences  ?  Explain  the  English  cabinet  system.  The  difference  in 
the  two  states  in  the  progress  towards  democracy.  Anglo-Saxon  insti- 
tutions in  other  states.  The  special  missions  and  the  common  work  of 
England  and  America. 


Topics  for  Assigned  Studies 

The  judicial  system  of  Henry  II.     Medley,  Manual,  Sees.  51  and  52. 

Taswell-Langmead,  Cons.  Hist.,  129-143.     Montague,  Elements, 

31-33,  47-50  ;   Social  England,  I.,  285-298  ;    Penn.  I.,  No.  6, 

2d  ed. 
Compare  the  Declaration  of  Independence  and  the  Constitution  of  the 

United  States,  especially  Amendments  I.-VIIL,  with  the  Bill  of 

Rights. 
The  reform  bills.     Montague,  Elements,  206-212.     Medley,  Manual, 

Sec.  32.    Taswell-Langmead,   Cons.  Hist.,  606-610.     Speech  of 

Macaulay  on  first  reform  bill,  in  Adams,  British  Orations,  III.,  62, 

and  in  Political  Orations  (Camelot  Series),  295. 


Important  Dates  for  Review 


543 


Important  Dates  for  Review 


IIOO 

Charter  of  Henry  I. 

1215 

Magna  Charta. 

1295 

The  Model  Parliament. 

1399 

First  constitutional  revolution. 

1485 

Accession  of  the  Tudors. 

1628 

The  Petition  of  Right. 

1649 

Charles  I.  executed. 

1688 

James  II.  dethroned. 

1689 

Bill  of  Rights. 

1700 

Act  of  Settlement. 

1714 

Accession  of  George  I. 

1776 

Declaration  of  Independence. 

1788 

Constitution  of  United  States  adopted 

1832 

First  Reform  Bill. 

CHAPTER   IX 

SCIENTIFIC  AND   ECONOMIC  ADVANCE   SINCE  THE 
RENAISSANCE  « 

Books  for  Reference  and  Further  Reading 

Meyer,  History  of  Chemistry.     (Macmillan  ;  $4.50.) 

Sachs,  History  of  Botany.     (Clarendon  ;  $2.50.) 

Clerk  e,    History   of  Astronomy    during    the     Nineteenth     Century. 

(Macmillan;  $4.00.) 
Lubbock,  Fifty  Years  of  Science.     (Macmillan.) 
Cunningham,  Growth  of  English  Industry  and  Commerce  in  Modern 

Times.     (Macmillan;  $4.50.) 
Traill,  Social  England.    Vols.  III.  to  VI.     (Putnam;  $3.50  per  vol.) 
The  First  Century  of  the  Republic.     (Harper.) 
Rambaud,     Histoire   de  la   Civilisation    Contemporaine  en    France. 

(Paris:  Colin.;   5  francs.) 
Escott,    Social    Transformations  of  the    Victorian    Age.     (Scribner; 

$2.00.) 
Wallace,  The  Wonderful  Century.     (Dodd,  Mead  &  Co. ;  $2.50.) 
Rogers,  Six  Centuries  of  Work  and  Wages.     (Putnam  ;  $3.00.) 

in  the  first  582.    The  Close  of  the  Renaissance.  — As  we  have  already 

part  of  the       seen  tne  first  great  intellectual  age  of  modern  times,  and 

sixteenth  ,       *  °  °,  ,       _ T*        , 

century.  tne  nrst  age  °*  great  economic  changes  was  the  fifteenth 

century,  the  age  of  the  revival  of  learning  with  the  invention 
of  printing,  and  of  the  oceanic  discoveries,  east  and  west, 
with  their  commercial  and  economic  consequences.  We 
have  also  seen  how  this  age  came  to  a  rather  sudden  close, 
involved    in    the    equally   great    revolutionary   age    which 

1  It  is  probable  that  this  chapter,  like  the  preceding,  will  be  found  to 
have  its  greatest  value  for  advanced  classes. 

Much  of  the  history,  which  is  covered  in  outline  by  this  chapter,  has  still 
to  be  written,  and  as  a  consequence  both  the  bibliography  of  the  chapter 
and  the  specific  references  are  incomplete. 

544 


ss 


5&3<  584]      A   Great  Age  of  Scientific  Work         54$ 


followed  the  teaching  of  Luther,  in  the  European  wars  and 
the  civil  wars  which  filled  the  whole  remaining  part  of  the 
sixteenth  century.  The  result  was  that  science,  which  had 
made  so  good  a  beginning  in  the  work  of  Copernicus,  took 
no  further  step  in  advance  in  the  century,  and  even  classi- 
cal learning,  which  might  rightfully  claim  the  highest  achieve- 
ments of  the  fifteenth  century,  passed  into  a  new  age  of 
scholasticism,  dominated  by  the  rules  of  a  barren  style,  and 
with  a  new  dictator  in  Cicero,  as  absolute  as  Aristotle  had 
been  in  the  earlier  scholasticism. 

583.  The  Great  Age  of  English  Literature.  —  With  the 
closing  years  of  the  sixteenth  century  there  begin  to  be 
signs  of  a  new  age  of  intellectual  activity.  This  is  partic- 
ularly true  of  England  in  the  field  of  literature,  as  if  the 
stimulus  of  the  great  struggle  for  life  and  death  with  Spain 
had  been  immediately  felt.  This  was  a  conflict,  indeed, 
well  calculated  to  quicken  mind,  fought  as  so  much  of  it 
was  in  the  waters  of  the  new  world,  in  the  midst  of  strange 
and  thrilling  scenes,  and  with  all  the  enthusiasm  awakened 
by  desperate  odds  and  the  most  invincible  courage. 

The  finest  products  of  the  age  of  Elizabeth  were  in  the 
form  of  dramas.  This  would  naturally  be  the  case.  An 
age  of  great  achievement  is  an  age  which  delights  in  story- 
telling, and  the  romances  and  novels  of  a  time  when  books 
were  expensive  and  little  general  reading  was  done,  were 
most  easily  published  upon  the  stage.  The  greatest  of  the 
dramatists  was  Shakespeare,  but  the  fact  that  in  the  mind  of 
to-day  he  seems  to  stand  almost  alone  for  the  whole  age, 
should  not  make  us  overlook  the  very  rich  product  of  the 
minor  dramatists,  especially  of  Ben  Jonson,  Marlowe,  and 
Beaumont  and  Fletcher. 

584.  A  Great  Age  of  Scientific  Work. — The  great  work 
of  the  seventeenth  century,  however,  greater  even  than  its 
literature,  was  to.  be  its  science.  A  connecting  link  between 
the  two  forms  of  intellectual  activity  in  England  was  Francis 
Bacon,  whose  Essays  were  a  permanent  contribution  to 
literature  and  his  Advancement  of  Learning  to  both.     He 


A  new 
scholasti- 
cism. 

The  Eliza- 
bethan age. 


Dramatic 
literature. 


546 


Advance  since  the  Renaissance 


[§585 


attacked  with  vigor  the  scholasticism  of  his  day,  and  pro- 
claimed in  language  eloquent  and  convincing  the  necessity 
of  observation  and  experiment  and  of  the  inductive  method. 
If  Bacon's  services  in  the  actual  and  practical  development 
of  modern  science  would  not  now  be  estimated  so  highly  as 
formerly,  he  at  least  influenced  individual  students  and  in 
the  right  direction. 

Already,  independently  of  any  influence  of  Bacon's,  the 
science  of  the  seventeenth  century,  probably  the  greatest 
age  of  modern  science  considered  in  its  relative  accomplish- 
ment, had  begun  in  the  work  of  Kepler  and  Galileo.  On 
the  basis  of  the  Copernican  theory  of  the  solar  system, 
Kepler  explained  more  accurately  the  orbits  of  the  planets 
and  stated  the  three  fundamental  laws  of  their  motions.  At 
the  same  time  Galileo  in  Italy  placed  the  truth  of  the 
Copernican  explanation  of  the  solar  universe  beyond  all 
doubt  by  discovering  the  moons  of  Jupiter  and  the  fact  that 
Venus  shows  the  same  phases  as  our  moon. 

585.  The  Law  of  Gravitation. — These  great  discoveries 
formed  the  foundation  for  much  detailed  work  of  value  in 
the  years  that  followed.  Before  the  century  closed,  its 
marvellous  progress  towards  a  right  understanding  of  the 
universe  was  completed  by  the  discovery  of  the  law  of 
gravitation  by  Sir  Isaac  Newton.  This  discovery,  agreeing 
with  the  laws  of  Kepler  and  with  the  known  facts  of  obser- 
vation, and  tending  to  take  the  place  of  the  somewhat 
speculative  theories  of  Descartes  in  regard  to  the  physical 
constitution  of  the  universe,  which  nevertheless  had  been  of 
service  in  the  progress  of  science,  completed  the  mathe- 
matical and  practical  demonstration  of  the  new  astronomy, 
and  placed  the  science  on  the  most  solid  foundation. 

Comparing  what  was  known  in  this  field  in  the  year  1600, 
with  what  was  known  at  the  death  of  Newton,  we  are  forced 
to  say  that  even  the  nineteenth  century  has  not  broadened 
the  field  of  human  knowledge  more  than  did  the  earlier  age, 
nor  in  any  more  important  respects  has  it  given  us  new  or 
more  accurate  conceptions  of  the  physical  universe. 


\%  5^6-588]    The  Idea  of  the  Reign  of  Lazv 


547 


586.  The  International  Character  of  Science.  —  In  a  very  All  countries 
interesting  way  this  earlier  progress  of  astronomy  illustrates   snare  in  it# 
one  feature  of  all  modern  scientific  study  —  its  international 
character.     The  first  step,  the  statement  of  the  heliocen- 
tric   theory,    was  taken  by   Copernicus   in    Poland.     This 

theory  was  definitely  proved  by  Galileo  in  Italy,  but  his 
work  was  rendered  possible  only  by  the  hint,  at  least,  of  the 
telescope  which  came  to  him  from  Holland.  The  demon- 
stration was  completed  by  Kepler  in  Germany,  but  his  work 
was  based  upon  data  furnished  by  the  observations  of 
Tycho  Brahe,  the  Dane.  The  final  step  was  taken  by 
Newton  in  England  in  the  establishment  of  the  law  of  gravi- 
tation, but  in  order  to  complete  his  proof  he  was  obliged  to 
wait  for  the  correct  measurement  of  a  degree  of  latitude  by 
the  Frenchman  Picard.  Almost  every  people  of  Europe 
had  its  share  in  this  great  building. 

587.  Advance  in  Other  Sciences.  —  No  other  science  of 
the  seventeenth  century  was  so  far  advanced  as  astronomy, 
but  in  several  preliminary  work  of  great  importance  was  cine, 
done,  and  in  some  advances  were  made  almost  as  revolu- 
tionary in  character  as  those  in  astronomy.  Galileo's  dis- 
coveries in  physics  rank  second  only  to  those  already 
mentioned.     In  mathematics  the  introduction  of  logarithms 

by  Napier,  and  in  medicine  the  discovery  of  the  circulation 
of  the  blood  by  Harvey,  both  coming  in  the  early  years  of 
the  century,  imparted  a  new  impetus  to  the  progress  of 
these  sciences. 

588.  The  Idea  of  the  Reign  of  Law. — Taken  altogether,   A  result  of 
so  great  was  the  progress  of  science  in  this  age  that  some-   the  Pr°gress 
time  before  its  close  we  notice  one  result  of  it  on  men's 

general  ways  of  thinking  which  had  important  consequences 
far  outside  the  field  of  science  proper.  This  was  in  the 
conception  of  law  and  its  operation  in  the  universe,  which, 
in  the  way  in  which  we  hold  it  to-day,  now  comes  into  gen- 
eral thinking  for  the  first  time.  It  was,  of  course,  in  the 
field  of  science  a  most  fruitful  idea,  but  more  interesting 
results  for  us  lay  in  other  directions. 


548 


Advat  ice  si /ice  the  Renaissance     [§§  589«  59° 


Upon  this  idea,  as  its  fundamental  conception,  was  based 
a  school  of  empirical  or  sensational  philosophical  teaching, 
whose  most  famous  leader  was  Locke.  He  developed  the 
new  philosophy  in  most  interesting  ways  in  psychology,  edu- 
cation, and  the  science  of  government,  with  results,  in  this 
last  direction  at  least,  which  were  long  and  widely  felt  in 
France  and  America. 

589.  The  English  Deists. — A  still  further  manifestation 
of  this  belief  in  the  reign  of  law  was  the  party  of  the  Eng- 
lish Deists,  who  failed  to  reconcile  in  their  own  minds  this 
new  idea  with  the  older  one  of  miracles,  and  a  supernatural 
government  of  the  world,  especially  as  related  to  a  divine 
revelation.  Their  exceedingly  vigorous  attack  upon  these 
notions  forced  the  leaders  of  Christian  thought  to  a  review 
of  their  position,  and  to  much  clearer  conception  and 
sharper  definition  than  ever  before  of  their  religious  ideas, 
especially  those  concerning  the  method  and  plan  of  reve- 
lation ;  and  though  these  have  been  in  turn  superseded  in 
many  most  essential  points  by  the  still  clearer  thinking  of 
the  nineteenth  century,  they  nevertheless  represent  a  great 
advance  in  our  understanding  of  the  dealings  of  Providence 
with  mankind. 

But  the  influence  of  this  school  of  thinkers  upon  the 
religious  ideas  of  the  world  does  not  exhaust  its  historical 
importance.  Through  them  the  scientific  movement  of  the 
seventeenth  century  and  the  intellectual  changes  which 
resulted  had  their  influence  on  the  great  revolutionary 
movement  which  was  to  be  characteristic  of  the  eighteenth 
century. 

590.  Leaders  of  French  Thought  in  England.  —  Early  in 
that  century  there  came  to  England  refugees  from  the  per- 
secution which  too  bold  thinking  entailed  in  France.  The 
most  famous  of  these  were  Voltaire  and  Montesquieu.  In 
England  they  came  in  contact  with  three  different  lines 
of  influence,  which  affected  in  a  marked  degree  their  later 
efforts  for  reform:  English  civil  liberty,  which,  though 
not  as  complete  as  in  the  nineteenth   century,  was  far  in 


§  590 


French  Leadership 


549 


advance  of  anything  in  France ;  the  political  philosophy 
of  Locke ;  and  the  ideas  of  the  Deists,  especially  the  idea 
of  bringing  old  beliefs  to  a  searching,  critical  examination. 
Their  English  training  and  observation  clarified  and  fixed 
their  ideas,  and  gave  definite  aim  and  purpose  to  the 
strong  demand  for  reform  to  which  they  had  already  given 
voice  —  a  demand  which  had  not  unnaturally  made  itself 
felt  under  the  absolutism  of  the  French  kings  and  the 
abuses  of  all  sorts  which  accompanied  it.  They  returned 
to  France  and  carried  on  the  attack  with  new  ammunition 
and  redoubled  energy,  imparting  to  the  nation  the  con- 
ceptions of  government  and  of  freedom,  intellectual  and 
political,  which  they  had  gained. 

The  influence  of  these  ideas  in  preparing  the  way  for 
the  French  Revolution  we  have  already  seen.  But  their 
influence  was  not  confined  to  France.  Through  France 
they  spread  to  all  Europe,  and,  though  checked  in  their 
immediate  operation  by  the  fears  which  the  Revolution  ex- 
cited in  the  European  governments,  they  have,  reenforced 
by  other  influences,  brought  forth  abundant  fruit  in  the 
nineteenth  century. 

591.  French  Intellectual  and  Social  Leadership.  —  France 
exercised  in  the  eighteenth  century  a  kind  of  despotic 
sway  over  the  minds  of  men.  Her  great  power  under 
Louis  XIV.,  and  long  and  fairly  successful  struggle  against 
almost  all  Europe ;  the  brilliance  of  that  age  in  literature  : 
the  great  age  of  the  French  drama,  of  Corneille,  Moliere, 
and  Racine  ;  the  refinement  of  the  French  language,  as  com- 
pared with  most  other  European  tongues ;  and  the  grace 
and  elegance  of  French  fashionable  life,  —  all  these  had 
combined  to  give  to  France  an  intellectual  and  social  in- 
fluence over  the  entire  continent  which  made  her  a  leader 
and  teacher  through  the  whole  eighteenth  century,  so 
powerful  an  influence  indeed  that  some  traces  of  it  remain 
even  at  the  present  time  under  wholly  changed  conditions. 
French  became  a  kind  of  universal  language,  and  to  imi- 
tate Versailles  and  the  French  court  a  sort  of  religion. 


Influenced 

by  English 

ideas. 

Morley, 

Voltaire 

(Maemil- 

lan),  94. 


Through 
France  they 
influence 
Europe. 


550 


Advance  since  the  Renaissance    [§§  592>  593 


592.  The  Benevolent  Despots.  —  The  works  of  the  re- 
formers, which  were  rather  the  fashion  in  France,  notwith- 
standing their  attacks  on  Church  and  State,  were  eagerly 
sought  for  everywhere  and  carefully  studied  by  statesmen 
and  sovereigns.  One  interesting  result  was  the  attempts 
which  were  made  by  the  so-called  benevolent  despots,  espe- 
cially by  Joseph  II.  of  Austria,  but  even  by  Frederick  the 
Great  and  Catherine  II.  of  Russia,  and  by  statesmen  like 
Pombal  in  Portugal,  to  introduce  reforms  by  paternal  meth- 
ods. These  attempts  all  came  to  failure,  as  it  was  perhaps 
inevitable  that  they  should,  based  as  they  were  on  pure 
theory  and  carried  out  under  the  direction  of  absolute  gov- 
ernments ;  but  they  serve  to  show  us  clearly  how  strong  the 
belief  in  the  necessity  of  reform  had  come  to  be,  even 
among  the  highest  classes,  and  this  was  one  of  the  most 
important  conditions  of  the  success  of  the  Revolution.  For 
this  belief  on  the  part  of  those  most  interested  to  preserve 
the  old  abuses  undermined  their  power  of  resistance  when 
the  people  began  the  attack. 

593.  Character  of  Eighteenth  Century  Science.  —  In  re- 
gard to  its  larger  intellectual  features  we  may  say  of  the 
eighteenth  century  that  it  was,  on  the  whole,  an  age  of 
destruction  rather  than  of  construction,  and  yet  the  work 
which  it  did  in  the  advancement  of  science  was  of  the  utmost 
importance.  It  may  be  called  a  great  age  of  observation 
and  experiment,  of  the  collection  and  classification  of  facts, 
rather  than  of  the  discovery  of  new  laws  or  of  great  advances 
in  the  understanding  of  the  universe  as  the  seventeenth 
century  had  been.  It  was  a  time  of  bringing  the  old  theories 
to  the  test  of  scientific  criticism,  of  becoming  conscious  of 
their  defects,  and  of  preparing  for  new  and  better  explana- 
tions by  the  careful  marshalling  of  related  facts.  There 
were  some  by  no  means  slight  advances  made,  but  the  great 
work  of  the  eighteenth  century  in  science  was  to  make  the 
necessary  preparation  for  the  progress  of  the  following  age. 
The  wonderful  scientific  discoveries  of  the  nineteenth  century 
were  possible  because  the  eighteenth  had  cleared  the  way 
and  provided  the  means. 


Benjamin  Franklin 


594^  595] 


A  Neiv  Science 


551 


594.  Positive  advances  in  Science.  —  Two  particularly 
important  advances  of  the  eighteenth  century  must  not  be 
overlooked.  One  was  the  discovery  of  oxygen  and  the 
understanding  of  the  true  nature  of  combustion  which  fol- 
lowed, overthrowing  the  old  theory  of  phlogiston  which  had 
been  the  ruling  explanation  for  nearly  a  hundred  years.  The 
other  was  the  work  of  Laplace  in  astronomy,  published  just 
at  the  end  of  the  century,  which  put  the  knowledge  of  the 
time  into  still  more  scientific  form,  and  made  a  most  valuable 
suggestion  for  the  future  in  the  statement  of  the  nebular 
hypothesis.  In  the  natural  sciences  much  better  methods 
of  classification  were  introduced  than  ever  before,  in  botany 
by  the  work  of  Linnaeus,  and  in  zoology  by  that  of  Buffon 
and  later  of  Cuvier.  The  study  of  these  sciences  advanced 
so  far,  indeed,  as  to  afford  some  foregleams  of  the  great 
discovery  of  the  nineteenth  century,  —  the  theory  of.  evolu- 
tion,—  of  especial  interest  in  the  case  of  the  elder  Darwin, 
grandfather  of  the  author  of  the  "Origin  of  Species."  In 
medicine  the  introduction  of  inoculation  for  the  small-pox 
must  not  be  forgotten,  the  first  step  towards  the  wonderful 
immunity  from  certain  especially  dangerous  diseases  which 
we  are  now  on  the  eve  of  acquiring,  nor  in  physics  the 
beginning  of  the  scientific  study  of  electricity  in  the  work  of 
Volta,  Galvini,  and  Franklin. 

595.  A  New  Science.  —  One  new  science,  which  in  our 
own  time  has  reached  most  important  conclusions,  dates  its 
beginning  from  the  eighteenth  century,  —  the  science  of  po- 
litical economy.  Colbert  at  the  close  of  the  seventeenth 
century  had  held  certain  theories,  chiefly  concerning  govern- 
ment supervision  of  industry  and  commerce ;  but  thinking 
in  regard  to  the  production  and  distribution  of  wealth  had 
never  taken  any  organized  form  until  the  rise  of  the  school 
of  the  Physiocrats  in  France.  Quesnay  may  be  called  the 
founder  of  the  science.  The  new  ideas  were  enlarged  by 
Gournay  and  later  still  by  Turgot,  but  the  work  which  gave 
the  new  science  its  definite  form  was  Adam  Smith's  "Wealth 
of  Nations,"  published  in  Scotland  in  1776. 


Political 
economy. 


552 


Advance  since  tJic  Renaissance     [§§  596>  597 


A  succession 
of  inventions. 
Cunning- 
ham, 

Industry  and 
(  ommerce, 
Modern, 
447-475: 
First  Century 
of  Republic, 
Chap.  II. 


596.  The  Age  of  Machinery  Begins.  —  In  one  direction 
the  eighteenth  century  brought  about  as  revolutionary 
changes  as  any  produced  by  the  nineteenth,  in  the  intro- 
duction of  the  great  age  of  machinery  in  manufacturing. 
Between  1760  and  1800  a  series  of  most  remarkable  inven- 
tions and  improvements  followed  one  another  with  unheard 
of  rapidity.  The  steam-engine  was  so  greatly  improved 
that  it  could  be  put  to  practical  use  for  the  first  time,  and 
we  are  in  the  habit  of  saying  that  it  was  then  invented.     A 


Tin  Cotton-gin 


succession  of  inventions  of  machinery  for  spinning  and 
weaving,  by  Hargreaves,  Arkwright,  Compton,  and  Cart- 
wright,  revolutionized  the  making  of  cloth.  At  the  same 
time  improvements  in  the  mining  of  coal  began  to  furnish 
a  sufficient  supply  of  fuel  for  these  new  demands,  and  by 
leading  to  new  processes  in  the  manufacture  of  iron  and 
steel  met  in  another  direction  an  equally  strong  demand  of 
the  age  of  machinery.  Finally  the  invention  of  the  cotton- 
gin,  by  Whitney  in  America,  enabled  the  producers  of  the 
raw  material  to  keep  pace  with  the  manufacturers,  and  to 
share  in  the  benefits  of  the  new  era. 

597.  The  Effect  upon  Manufacturing.  —  It  was  a  new  era 


593] 


The  Effect  upon  Labor 


553 


indeed,  and  its  results  touched  almost  every  side  of  life.  In 
manufacturing  there  was  a  complete  transformation.  Up  to 
this  time  everything  had  been  upon  a  small  scale  and 
entirely  unorganized.  In  the  making  of  cloth  of  all  kinds, 
for  example,  the  most  important  industry  before  the  nine- 
teenth century,  nearly  everything  was  done  by  individual 
effort  and  in  the  houses  of  the  workmen.  Now  not  merely 
was  there  an  opportunity  for  the  employment  of  capital  on 
a  larger  scale,  but  there  was  a  necessity  for  it  if  the  new 
machinery  was  to  be  properly  housed  and  operated.  This 
was  the  beginning  of  the  factory  system.  It  meant  the 
collection  and  careful  organization  of  all  parts  of  the  process 
in  one  concern,  and  the  employment  of  larger  and  larger 
amounts  of  capital  until  the  enormous  enterprises  of  the 
present  day  were  reached. 

598.  The  Effect  upon  Labor.  — The  transformation  of  the 
laboring  class  was  just  as  great.  The  factory  system  brought 
the  workmen  together,  and  put  them  by  hundreds  into  the 
employ  of  a  single  concern  to  which  they  looked,  not  merely 
for  payment,  but  for  the  direction  and  supervision  of  their 
labor.  The  workman  was  no  longer,  as  he  had  been,  his  own 
employer,  working  when  and  how  he  pleased,  and  disposing 
of  the  product  of  his  labor  to  the  workman  of  the  next  stage 
for  whose  labor  it  was  the  raw  material,  and  in  the  mean 
time  living  in  a  little  village  or  even  on  a  small  farm  which 
he  also  tilled.  Now  what  he  sold  was  not  the  product  of 
his  work,  but  his  work  itself  under  fixed  rules  and  conditions, 
and  he  must  live  with  all  the  other  employees  of  the  con- 
cern in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  the  factory. 

The  making  of  this  transformation  by  the  laboring  class 
was  a  very  painful  process,  and  the  first  results  seemed  to 
be  disastrous.  Old-fashioned  labor  could  not  easily  adapt 
itself  to  the  change,  and  thousands  found  themselves  de- 
prived of  their  means  of  sustenance.  Lack  of  experience 
led  to  many  evil  consequences  from  the  crowding  together 
of  the  workmen  in  the  new  towns,  and  the  same  reason  put 
them  at  first  rather  at  the  mercy  of  their  employers.     The 


The  work- 
man sells 
labor 

instead  of  the 
products  of 
labor. 


The  first 
effect 
disadvan- 
tageous to 
labor. 


554 


Advance  since  the  Renaissance 


[§  599 


Craik, 
John  Hali- 
fax, Gentle- 
man (novel), 

But  later, 
beneficial. 


The  field  of 
labor  greatly 
expanded. 
Cunning- 
ham, 

Industry  and 

(  o/n /fierce, 

Modern, 

607-651. 


Great  in- 
crease of 
general 
intelligence 
and  comfort. 

Rogers, 
Six  Centu- 
ries, p.  497. 


result  was  both  a  great  increase  of  poverty  and  suffering 
among  the  laborers,  and  the  growth  of  a  bitter  feeling  of 
hostility  towards  the  capitalist  who  seemed  to  be  reaping  the 
only  benefits  from  these  changes  and  towards  the  new  ma- 
chines which  had  brought  them  about.  Frequent  machine- 
breaking  riots  gave  expression  to  both  these  feelings.  Ex- 
perience by  degrees  brought  about  a  better  condition  of 
things,  and  the  operation  of  natural  laws  and  of  the  con- 
tinued cheapening  of  manufacturing  processes  has  tended 
to  reduce  the  proportionate  returns  of  the  capitalist  and  to 
increase  the  real  wages  of  the  workman. 

599.  The  Final  Effect.  —  In  other  ways  also  the  workman 
has  greatly  benefited  from  the  results  of  this  revolution. 
The  introduction  of  machinery  speedily  gave  rise  to  new 
industries.  Some  of  these  soon  passed  in  importance  the 
great  cloth-making  industry  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and 
in  the  nineteenth  century  the  field  of  labor  expanded  enor- 
mously. The  necessary  cost  of  living  has  been  greatly 
reduced,  and  comforts  and  luxuries  undreamed  of  in  the 
eighteenth  century  have  been  brought  within  easy  reach  of 
the  laborer's  family,  while  progress  in  sanitary  science  has 
rendered  their  lives  more  secure. 

As  a  result,  directly  or  indirectly,  of  these  things,  there  has 
been  a  great  advance  of  intelligence,  and  a  clearer  and  better 
understanding  of  their  true  interests  by  the  laboring  class. 
Great  trade  organizations  have  been  formed  to  look  after 
these  interests  and,  where  they  have  been  wisely  directed,  as 
they  have  increasingly  been  among  Anglo-Saxon  workmen 
with  the  growth  of  experience,  many  advantages  have  resulted. 
Relatively  speaking,  the  artisan  class  has  gained  more  from 
the  new  age  than  the  capitalist  class.  The  rich  man  has 
been  always  able  to  buy  what  comforts  and  luxuries  he 
pleased,  and  the  millionaire  of  to-day  can  neither  purchase 
nor  enjoy  many  more  of  these  than  his  predecessor  of  the 
end  of  the  eighteenth  century ;  but  the  wildest  prophet  of 
that  time  would  never  have  ventured  to  foresee  the  present 
improved  condition  of  the  intelligent  laborer. 


§§  6oo,  601]     The  Accumulation  of  Wealth 


555 


600.  Political  Results.  —  Politically  the  effect  of  these 
changes  has  been  as  marked  as  economically,  especially  in 
England.  At  first  the  middle  class  rose  to  a  new  social  and 
political  importance.  The  centre  of  power  began  to  shift 
from  the  country,  and  the  land-owning  class,  where  it  had 
always  been,  to  the  new  towns  and  the  new  wealthy  manu- 
facturers and  merchants.  Conscious  of  their  power,  they 
began  to  insist  upon  the  reform  of  the  system  of  parlia- 
mentary representation ;  and  the  result  was  the  first  reform 
bill  of  1832,  which  gave  representation  for  the  first  time 
to  the  great  manufacturing  towns.  The  process  did  not 
stop  at  this  point,  but  by  successive  stages  the  State  became 
more  and  more  democratic,  until  it  was  practically  under 
the  control  of  the  mass  of  the  people.  The  United  States 
began  with  a  more  democratic  theory,  but  at  first  this  was 
not  perfectly  realized  in  practice,  and  the  tendency  has 
been  in  the  same  direction  as  in  England,  though  less 
noticeable  and  more  quickly  and  more  completely  accom- 
plished. This  tendency  has  been  perhaps  still  more  marked 
in  the  Australian  colonies,  where  many  measures  of  an 
extreme  democratic,  almost  of  a  socialistic,  stamp  have 
been  adopted,  apparently  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  public, 
though  we  should  look  upon  their  operation  with  dread. 

601.  The  Accumulation  of  Wealth.  —  Upon  the  accumu- 
lation of  wealth,  both  by  individuals  and  by  the  community 
in  general,  the  economic  revolution  of  the  end  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century  had  naturally  a  profound  influence.  The 
introduction  of  machinery  was  like  the  opening  of  number- 
less mines  of  gold.  At  first  the  great  profits  derived  from 
the  new  methods  of  work  were  chiefly  absorbed  by  the 
capitalist  class.  But  they  had  their  burdens  to  bear  in 
return,  for  it  was  this  rapid  production  of  wealth  that  en- 
abled England  to  endure  the  long  strain  of  the  Napoleonic 
wars  without  ruin.  Later  the  products  of  industry  have 
been  more  fairly  divided,  and  the  statistics  of  the  income 
tax  and  of  savings  banks  seem  to  indicate  that  the  middle 
and  working  classes  have  gained  relatively  more  than  the 


Advance  of 

the  middle 

class. 

Montague, 

Elements, 

191-193. 


Then  a 

democratic 

tendency. 


Vastly  in- 
creased pro- 
duction of 
wealth. 
Escott, 
Social 

Transforma- 
tions, 13-38. 


556 


Advance  since  tJic  Renaissance 


[§602 


Wealth  in 
the  Anglo- 
Saxon 
world. 


Of  great 
variety. 
First  Century 
of  the 
Republic, 
Chap.  XI. 


Political 
applications 
of  science. 


Transporta- 
tion. 


Applications 
of  electricity. 


rich,  notwithstanding  the  building  up  of  enormous  individual 
fortunes. 

Wealth  in  the  Anglo-Saxon  world  has  increased  more 
rapidly  than  population  even,  and  now  comprises  one-third 
of  that  of  the  whole  globe.  It  has  been  said  that  the 
amount  saved  and  added  to  capital  in  England  between 
i860  and  1870  was  enough  to  purchase  the  whole  kingdom 
as  it  existed  in  1815,  and  the  census  of  1880  showed  the 
United  States  to  be  the  richest  nation  of  the  world.  In 
the  expansion  of  the  race,  these  facts  have  been  of  great 
importance.  While  England  has  formed  and  administered 
the  largest  empire  of  history,  and  has  had  innumerable 
frontier  wars  to  pay  for,  and  a  great  fleet  to  maintain,  her 
national  debt  has  been  reduced  since  18 15  by  a  thousand 
million  dollars,  and  is  now,  in  proportion  to  the  wealth  of 
the  nation  as  compared  with  that  of  the  earlier  date,  almost 
insignificant. 

602.  Nineteenth-century  Science. — The  scientific  work 
of  the  nineteenth  century  has  covered  such  a  wide  variety 
of  subjects,  and  made  such  a  multitude  of  discoveries,  that 
any  brief  statement  of  its  results  is  impossible.  Only  the 
general  characteristics  and  the  most  important  advances  of 
the  age  can  be  pointed  out. 

Two  marked  traits  characterize  throughout  the  science  of 
the  century.  One  of  these  is  the  rapid  application  of  dis- 
coveries in  pure  science  to  practical  purposes  in  improved 
economic  appliances  or  in  increasing  the  conveniences  and 
comforts  of  men.  This  began  in  the  opening  of  the  great 
age  of  machinery  and  has  continued  ever  since. 

The  nineteenth  century  was  only  well  under  way  when 
the  application  of  the  steam-engine  to  transportation,  in  the 
railway  and  in  the  steamboat,  revolutionized  commerce, 
and  enabled  it  to  keep  pace  in  the  distribution  of  goods 
with  the  enormous  output  resulting  from  the  new  processes 
of  manufacture.  Since  that  time  the  most  interesting  and 
even  startling  of  these  applications  of  science  have  been  in 
the  field  of  electricity,  the  telegraph,  the  telephone,  electric 


§6o3J 


Advances  in  Pure  Science 


557 


lighting,  and  electric  motive  power.  These  are  almost 
equalled  in  interest  by  lucifer  matches  and  photography, 
both  now  so  familiar  that  the  first  impression  made  by  their 
introduction  is  forgotten ;  and  in  the  field  of  surgery  and 
medicine  by  anaesthetics,  antiseptic  surgery,  and  the  new 
methods  of  meeting  and  overcoming  diseases  which  are  due 
to  germs.  But  these  together  are  only  a  very  few  from  the 
long  list  of  such  applications  of  science,  and  one  may  per- 
haps gain  some  idea  of  their  influence  upon  our  lives  by 
imagining  ourselves  deprived  of  all  such  applications  and 
inventions  of  the  last  hundred  years. 

603.  Advances  in  Pure  Science.  — Another  chief  charac- 
teristic of  the  science  of  the  nineteenth  century  is  its  won- 
derful progress  in  the  discovery  of  the  laws  of  nature  in 
every  department  of  nature's  activity.  The  careful  study  of 
the  facts  during  the  previous  century  had  prepared  the  way 
for  great  advances  in  the  understanding  of  the  forces  behind 
the  facts,  and  these  the  next  age  made. 

In  this  case,  also,  our  list  must  be  a  very  brief  one  and 
of  the  most  important  advances  only :  the  conservation  of 
energy,  the  theories  of  the  molecular  structure  of  matter, 
of  organic  evolution,  of  the  cell  structure  of  living  organisms 
with  the  resulting  science  of  embryology,  and  the  germ 
theory  of  diseases.  It  is  difficult  to  find  anything  in  the 
history  of  the  past  with  which  to  compare  these,  in  their 
influence  upon  our  understanding  of  nature,  unless  it  be 
Newton's  theory  of  gravitation  alone,  but  discoveries  only 
less  in  importance  to  these  have  affected  every  branch  of 
knowledge. 

If  it  is  possible  that  the  seventeenth  century  made  a 
greater  relative  progress  in  science,  that  is  a  greater  progress 
considering  the  point  at  which  it  began,  it  is  hardly  too 
much  to  say  of  the  nineteenth  that  its  absolute  progress  is 
as  great  as  that  of  all  preceding  time.  We  may  now  almost 
venture  to  look  forward  to  a  time,  not  very  distant  in  the 
future,  when  all  natural  forces  will  have  been  brought  into 
the  service  of  man,  and  when  nearly  all  the  suffering,  danger, 


Other  prac- 
tical results 
of  science. 


The  dis- 
covery of 
natural  laws. 


The  most 
important 
discoveries. 


The  greatest 
age  of  the 
world's 
scientific 
history. 
Wallace, 
Wonderful 
Century, 
Chap.  XV. 


558  Advance  since  the  Renaissance 

and  disease  due  to  our  ignorance  of  nature's  ways  or  to  our 
inability  to  foresee  or  control  her  operations  will  have 
disappeared. 


Topics 

In  what  way  did  the  age  of  the  revival  of  learning  close?  The  fust 
great  age  of  English  literature.  The  work  of  Lord  Bacon.  Pin 
in  astronomy  in  the  seventeenth  century.  The  law  of  gravitation. 
The  international  character  of  modern  science.  The  scientific  work  of 
the  seventeenth  century  as  a  whole.  The  idea  of  natural  law.  The 
ideas  of  the  Deists.  English  influence  upon  French  writers.  How  did 
these  ideas  become  European?  Attempted  reforms  by  governments. 
The  character  of  eighteenth  century  science.  Advances  in  various 
sciences.  The  beginning  of  political  economy.  Inventions  of  ma- 
chinery at  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century.  The  effects  of  the  use 
of  machinery  upon  labor,  manufacturing,  political  reform,  and  the  pro- 
duction of  wealth.  Two  chief  characteristics  of  nineteenth-century 
science.  Examples  of  the  practical  applications  of  science.  Examples 
of  important  discoveries  of  natural  laws. 


Topics  for  Assigned  Studies 

The  invention  of  the  cotton-gin.  American  Historical  Review,  Vol. 
III.,  pp.  90-127. 

The  general  character  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Wallace,  The  Won- 
derful Century,  ('hap.  XV. 


Topics  for  Studies  in  Review 

How  had  the  German- Roman  Empire  become  so  weak  in  1 648  ? 

Put  together  the  facts  which  mark  the  decline  of  Spain. 

The  steps  in  the  rise  of  England. 

The  reasons  why  France  failed  to  secure  a  colonial  empire. 

The  steps  in  the  advance  of  Russia. 

The  share  of  the  American  colonists  in  the  struggle  with   France  for 

colonial  empire. 
Steps  in  the  advance  of  Prussia. 
Make  an  outline  of  the  history  of  the  "  Eastern  Question  "  from  the 

beginning  of  the  reign  of  Catherine  II. 
The  relation  of  the  wars  of  Frederick  the  Great  to  the  colonial  struggle 

between  France  and  England. 


ABBREVIATIONS 


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nell  Hart  and  Edward  Channing.     (A.  Lovell  &  Co.;     10  cents 

each.) 
Bonn.     Bohn's  Libraries.     (The  Macmillan  Co.) 
Clarendon.     The  Clarendon  Press,  Oxford.     (Henry  Frowde.) 
Contemporaries.      English    History  by  Contemporary  Writers    Series. 

(Putnam.) 
Correard.     Choix  de  Textes  pour  servir  a  1' Etude  des  Institutions  de  la 

France.     (Paris  ;   Delalain.) 
Epochs.     The  Epochs  of  History  Series.     (Longmans  or  Scribner.) 
Epochs  Ch.  Hist.    The  Epochs  of  Church  History  Series.     (Longmans.) 
Fling,  Studies.     Studies  in  European  History.     Professor  Fred  Morrow 

Fling.     I.  Greek  and  Roman  Civilization  ;   II.   Mediaeval  History. 

(J.  H.  Miller,  Lincoln,  Neb.;   Single  Studies,  5  cents.     The  bound 

volume,  55  cents.) 
Gardiner.     Constitutional    Documents    of    the     Puritan     Revolution. 

(Clarendon  ;   $2.25.) 
Gee  and  Hardy.     Documents  illustrative  of  English  Church  History. 

(Macmillan  ;   $2.60.) 
Henderson.     Historical   Documents   of  the     Middle    Ages.     (Bohn ; 

$1.50.) 
Heroes.     Heroes  of  the  Nations  Series.     (Putnam.) 
Indiana.     Extracts  from  the  Sources.     Professors  Samuel  B.  Harding 

and   U.  G.  Weatherby.     University  of  Indiana.     (Bloomington  j 

5  cents  each.) 
Mathews.     Select  Mediaeval  Documents.     (Boston  ;   Silver.) 
Nations.     Story  of  the  Nations  Series.     (Putnam.) 
Old  South.     Old  South  Leaflets.     (Directors  of  the  Old  South  Work. 

Boston  ;   5  cents  each.) 
Penn.    Translations  and  Reprints  from  the  Original  Sources  of  European 

History.     (Department  of    History,  University  of    Pennsylvania. 

10  to  25  cents  each  ;    bound  volumes  $1.50.) 
Periods.     Periods  of  European  History  Series.     (Macmillan.) 
Prothero.     Statutes  and  Constitutional  Documents,  1559-1625.     (Clar- 
endon ;   $2.60.) 
Putzger.     Historischer  Schul-atlas.     (Leipzig  ;   Velhagen  ;    2  marks.) 

559 


560  Abbreviations 

Schilling.  <,)uellenbuch  zur  Geschichte  der  Neuzeit.  (Berlin  ;  Gaert- 
ner.) 

S.  P.  C.  K.     Society  for  Promoting  Christian  Knowledge.     (Young.) 

Stubbs.  Select  charters  illustrative  of  English  Constitutional  History. 
(Clarendon  ;   #3.10.) 

Zeller.  L'Histoire  de  France  racontee  par  les  Contemporains.  17  vols, 
published  as  16.  (Paris  :  Hachette  ;  I  franc  each.)  Translated 
into  French.  I.  Gaul  and  the  Invasions  ;  II.  The  Merovingians; 
III.  Charlemagne  and  his  Successors ;  IV.  Advent  of  the  Cape- 
tians,  Philip  Augustus  ;  V.  St.  Louis,  Philip  the  Fair  ;  VI.  Philip 
VI.,  John  the  Good  ;  VII.  Charles  V.,  Du  Guesclin  ;  VIII.  Charles 
VI.;  IX.  Charles  VII.,  Louis  XI.  ;  X.  Charles  VIII.;  XI.  Louis 
XII.;  XII. and  XIII.  Francis!.;  XIV.  Henry  II.;  XV.  Francis  II., 
Charles  IX.;   XVI.  Henry  III,  The  League  ;   XVII.  Henry  IV. 


LIST   OF    BOOKS 

REFERRED  TO  MORE  THAN  ONCE,  EXCEPT  THOSE 
COVERED  BY  THE  LIST  OF  ABBREVIATIONS,  WITH 
THE  PAGE  ON  WHICH  THE  NAME  OF  THE  PUB- 
LISHER   IS    GIVEN 


Adams,  C.  K.,  Democracy  and  Mon- 
archy in  France,  452. 

Adams,  G.  B.,  Civilization  during 
the  Middle  Ages,  173 ;  The  Growth 
of  the  French  Nation,  224. 

Airy,  louis  XIV.,  370. 

Allen,  Christian  Institutions,  120. 

Alzog,  Church  History,  10 1. 

Archer  and  Kingsford,  Kingdom  of 
'Jerusalem,  209. 

Ashley,  English  Economic  History, 
223. 

Baird,  Hetiry  of  Navarre,  344;  Rise 
of  the  Huguenots,  342. 

Boyle,  Clarendon,  360. 

Bradley,  The  (ioths,  157. 

Bryce,  The  Holy  Roman  Empire,  173. 

Bury,  Later  Roman  Umpire,  101. 

Capes,  The  Age  of  the  Antonines, 
113;    The  Early  Empire,  106. 

Carr,  The  Church  and  the  Roman 
Empire,  122. 

Church,  Henry  V.,  232;  Stories  of 
the  East,  I. 

Cox,  The  Crusades,  209. 

Creighton,  Elizabeth,  334. 

Cunningham,  Growth  of  English  In- 
dustry and  Commerce  in  Modern 
Times,  544. 

Curtius,  History  of  Greece,  17. 

Dodge,  Hannibal,  72. 

Du  Chaillu,  The  Viking  Age,  1. 

Duffy,  Tuscan  Republics,  208. 

Emei  ton,  Mediaeval  Europe,  173. 

20  56 


Fisher,  The  Begbini?rgs  of  Christian- 
ity, 120 ;  History  of  the  Christian 
Church,     101 ;     The    Reformation, 

257. 

Fiske,  Discovery  of  America,  282. 

Frazer,  British  India,  502. 

Freeman,  Historical  Essays,  137; 
Sicily,  70. 

Froude,  History  of  England,  257. 

Fyffe,  History  of  Modern  Elurope, 
452. 

Gairdner,  Henry  I  II.,  293 ;  Lan- 
caster and   York,  242. 

Gardiner,  The  First  'J wo  Stuarts,  358  ; 
The  Thirty  Years'  War,  346. 

Gibbon,  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Ro- 
man Empire,  101. 

Gindely,  The  Thirty  Years  War, 
346. 

Green,  Conquest  of  England,  184; 
History  of  the  English  People,  173; 
Making  of  England,  151. 

Green,  Mrs.,  Hetiry  II ,  226. 

Grote,  History  of  Greece,  17. 

Hadley,  Introduction  to  Roman  Law, 

151- 

Hallam,  Constitutional  History  of 
England,  510. 

Hassall,  Louis  XIV.,  367. 

Hatch,  Organization  of  the  Early 
Christian   Churches,  120. 

Hausser,  The  Period  of  the  Reforma- 
tion, 257. 

Henderson,  History  of  Germany,  173. 

I 


562 


List  of  Books 


Hodgkin.  Charles  the  Great,  152; 
Dynasty  of  Theodosius,  132;  Italy 
and  her  Invaders,  101  ;  lheodoric 
the  Goth,  145. 

Holm,  History  of  Greece,  17. 

How  and  Leigh,  History  of  Rome,  53. 

Hutton,  Philip  Augustus,  227. 

Ihne,  History  of  Rome,  53. 

Johnson,  The  Normans  in  Europe, 
180. 

Keary,  Vikings  in  Western  Christen- 
dom, 180. 

Keltie,  The  Partition  of  Africa,  504. 

Kitchin,  History  of  France,  173. 

Kostlin,  Life  of  Luther,  257. 

Lecky,  History  of  England  in  the 
Eighteenth  Century,  406. 

Leger,  Aitstro-IIungary,  248. 

Lewis,  History  of  Germany,  248. 

Lieber,  Civil  Liberty,  452. 

Longman,  Frederick  the  Great,  393. 

Lowell,  Eve  of  the  French  Revolu- 
tion, 428. 

Lucas,  Historical  Geography  of  the 
British  Colonies,  Introduction,  406. 

Mohan,  Influence  of  Sea  Power  upon 
History,  406. 

Mason,  Woman's  Share  in  Primitive 
Culture,  1. 

Maspero,  Dawn  of  Civilization,  1 ; 
Life  in  Ancient  Egypt  and  As- 
syria, 1. 

Masson,  Mediaeval  France,  233. 

Maurice,  Bohemia,  248. 

McCarthy,  Our  Times  from  1880, 505. 

Medley,  Manual  of  English  Consti- 
tutional History,  510. 

Merivale,  Romans  under  the  L'.mpire, 
101. 

Mombert,  Charles  the  Great,  164. 

Mommsen,  History  of  Rome,  53. 

Montague,  Elements  of  English  Con- 
stitutional History,  510. 

Morris,  Age  of  Anne,  377  ;  Napoleon, 

45  *• 
Motley,  The  Dutch  Republic,  332. 
Muller,    Political  History  of  Recent 

Times,  452. 
Oman,  Art  of  War  in  the    Middle 

Ages,  209;  Byzantine  Empire,  118. 


Park  man,  Half  Century  of  Conflict ; 

Montcalm  and  \\  olfe,  406. 
Pastor,  History  of  the  Popes,  257. 
Payne,  History  of  European  Colonies, 

406. 
Pears,    The  Fall  of  Constantinople, 

209. 
Perkins,   France  under   Louis    A/'., 

406;    France   under   the    Regency, 

385. 
Poole,  Wycliffe,  230. 
Prescott,  Philip  II.,  335. 
Rambaud,  History  of  Russia,  387. 
Ramsay,  Lancaster  and  \  \>rk,  236. 
Ranke,  History  of  the  Popes,  307 
Roberts,  History  of  Canada,  495. 
Rogers,  Six  Centuries  of  Work  and 

•  245- 
Schaff,    History    of    the     Christian 

Church,  101. 
Seebohm,  The  P rote stant  Revolution, 

316. 
Seeley,  Roman  Imperialism,  92. 
Sergeant,  The  Franks,  137;  Wycliffe, 

245. 

Sloane,  Napoleon,  451. 

Stephens,  French  Revolution,  45 1 ; 
Portugal,  282;  Speeches  of  the 
French  Revolution,  451. 

Story,  Building  of  the  British  Em- 
pire, 406. 

Stubbs,  Constitutional  History  of  Eng- 
land, 236 ;  The  Plantagenets,  237. 

Symonds,  The  Renaissance  in  Italy, 

257. 

Taine,  Ancient  Regime,  429. 

Taswell-Langmead,  English  Consti- 
tutional History,  510. 

Tout,  Edtvard  /.,  240. 

Traill,  Social  England,  173. 

Tuttle,  History  of  Prussia,  392. 

Uhlhorn,  Conflict  of  Christianity  with 
Heathenism,  120. 

Wallace,    The     Wonderful    Century, 

544- 
VVarburton,  Edward  III.,  230. 
Ward,     The     Counter    Reformation 

320. 
Willert,  Henry  of  Navarre,  343. 
Zimmern,  Itansa,  217. 


INDEX 


Abbassides,  the  dynasty  of,  158,  160. 

Abyssinia,  505. 

Acadia,  416. 

Achaean  League,  48. 

Acre,  siege  of,  214. 

Actium,  battle  of,  98,  105. 

Act  of  Settlement,  the,  538. 

Act  of  Supremacy,  the,  318. 

Act  of  Union,  384. 

yElfred  the  Great,  182. 

/Equians,  the,  61. 

,Eschylus,  32. 

/Ethelred,  183. 

Aetius,  134. 

.Etolian  League,  73. 

Afghanistan,  46,  503,  504. 

Africa,  504,  505;    conquests  of,  103, 

145,  157.     See  Cape  Colony,  Egypt, 

etc. 
Agincourt,  battle  of,  232. 
Agricola,  113. 
Agrippina,  no. 
Aix-la-Chapelle,  treaty  of,  371 ;  peace 

of,  395,  418. 
Alais,  edict  of,  349. 
Alaric,  102,  122-134. 
Albigenses,  175,  207,  228. 
Albuquerque,  407. 
Alcibiades,  35-37. 
Alcuin,  169. 
Alemanni,   the,    116,    131,    138,    140, 

193- 
Alexander  I.,  Czar   of  Russia,  456, 

461;   II.,  480,  481. 
Alexander  the  Great,  19,  42,  44-49, 

68;  influence  on  civilization  of,  48, 

5o,  51- 
Alexandria,   in    Egypt,   founding   of, 

45,  123  ;  bombardment  of,  505. 
Algiers,  504. 


Ali,  the  Caliph,  158. 

Alliance,  the  Triple,  371,  413. 

Alsace-Lorraine,  475. 

Alva,  duke  of,  336. 

Amenemhat  III.,  8. 

America,  discovery  of,  277 ;  English 
colonies  in,  411-415;  Revolution 
in,  422;  Anglo-Saxon  expansion 
in,  488. 

Amiens,  peace  of,  444,  492. 

Amphictyonic  Council,  43. 

Anabasis,  the,  39. 

Andros,  Sir  Edmund,  538. 

Angevin  empire,  226. 

Anglo-Saxons,  103,  148-150,  488,  507. 

Anjou,  county  of,  188. 

Anne  of  Beaujeu,  296. 

Anne  of  England,  380,  384. 

Antalcidas,  peace  of,  40. 

Antioch,  123,  212. 

Antiochus,  king  of  Syria,  55,  79. 

Antonines,  Rome  under  the,  113. 

Antonius,  Marcus,  98. 

Antony  of  Navarre,  342. 

Appius  Claudius,  decemvir,  64. 

Aquae  Sextiae,  battle  of,  87. 

Aquinas,  Thomas,  263. 

Aquitaine,  duchy  of,  188. 

Arabia,  155-157 ;  science  of,  158. 

Arabi  Pasha,  505. 

Arabs,  156,  157;  in  Spain,  104,  157. 

Arbela,  battle  of,  45. 

Arcadia,  40. 

Arcadius,.i32. 

Archangel,  390. 

Areopagus,  26. 

Arginusae,  battle  of,  36. 

Argives,  24. 

Arians,  138. 

Ariosto,  282. 


563 


S64 


I  ndt 


Ariovistus,  129. 

Aristides  the  Just,  30,  31. 

Alius,  138. 

Armada,  the  Invincible,  340. 

Arminius,    or    Hermann,    109;    the 

theologian,  338. 
Arnulf,  193. 
Arnulf  of  Metz,  153. 
Arthur  of  Brittany,  226. 
Artois,  count  of,  456. 
Aryan  nations,  14. 
Aryans,  4,  15. 
Asia,  45,  502-504. 
Assignats,  French,  437. 
Assyria,  10. 
Asti,  siege  of,  133. 
Athenian  constitution,  27. 
Athenian  Empire,  31 ;  fall  of,  38. 
Athens,  24,  32,  34-38,  43,  44. 
Attica,  24,  29. 
Atiila,  134,  140. 
Augsburg,  Confession  of,  314 ;  peace 

of<  325.  33°.  345  J  league  of,  377. 
Augustus  Caesar,  106-110. 
Augustus  II.,  king  of  Poland,  390; 

III.,  400. 
Aurelian,  emperor  of  Rome,  116. 
Aurelius,  Marcus,  107,  113,  114,  122. 
Austerlitz,  battle  of,  446. 
Australasia,  499. 
Australia,  488-490,  497. 
Austrasia,  152,  153,  499. 
Austria,  248,  353.  365,  394*399.  47° ; 

in  the  Seven  Weeks'  War,  470-472. 
Austrian  Succession,  War  of  the,  395. 
Avignon,  258.  283,  373. 
Azof,  390,  391. 

Babylon,  45,  46. 

Babylonian  history.  10. 

Bacon,  Francis,  545. 

Bagdad,  158,  210. 

Balboa,  277. 

Baldwin  of  Flanders,  215. 

Balkan  states,  482. 

Balliol,  240. 

Baltic  provinces,  250,  401. 

Baluchistan,  502. 

Barcelona,  166;  treaty  of,  311. 

Basle,  council  of,  288. 

Bastille,  taking  of  the,  434. 


Bavaria,  Joseph  of,  377. 

Bavarians,  the,  164,  193,  345. 

Bayard,  Chevalier,  310. 

Becket,  Thomas,  238. 

Belgium,  178,  464. 

Belisarius,  145. 

Berlin,  treaty  of,  482. 

Bill  of  Rights,  376. 

Bismarck,  Otto  von,  467,  470. 

Bithynia,  80. 

Black  Death,  the,  231,  242. 

Black  Prince,  231. 

Boethius,  14. 

Boeotia,  43. 

Bohemia,  248,  258,  286,  287,  346,  398, 
459.  47 1- 

Bonaparte,  Napoleon,  441-449,  491. 

Borgia,  Caesar,  295. 

Bosphorus,  116,  117. 

Bosworth  Field,  battle  of,  244,  526. 

Bothwell,  earf  of,  338. 

Bourbon,  house  of,  342,  343. 

Bourges,  Pragmatic  Sanction  of,  288, 
301. 

Bouvines,  battle  of,  240. 

Boyne,  battle  of  the,  377. 

Braddock,  General,  418. 

Brandenburg,  elector  of,  392. 

Breda,  compromise  of,  337. 

Breslau,  peace  of,  395. 

Bretigny,  treaty  of,  231. 

Britain,  95,  113,  148. 

British  empire,  expansion  of,  487-503; 
in  Africa,  504;  in  Canada,  495;  in 
India,  502. 

Bruce.  Robert,  240,  241. 

Brunswick,  house  of,  206.  See  Han- 
over. 

Brutus,  98. 

Buffon,  551. 

Bulgaria,  482, 484 ;  massacres  in,  481. 

Burgundians,  133,  139,  14J. 

Burgundy,  duchy  of,  178,  188,  234 ; 
duke  of,  232. 

Burschenschaft,  454. 

Cabot,  410. 

Augustus,  emperor  of  Rome, 
106-110. 

Julius,    emperor   of    Rome, 
95-98. 


Index 


565 


Caius,  no. 

Calais,  233,  334,  376. 

Caligula,  emperor  ot  Rome,  no. 

Caliphate,  the,  158,  160,  210. 

Calvin,  John,  259,  319. 

Calvinism,  319,  329,  333,  338,  341. 

Cambray,    league    of,    298;     Ladits' 

Peace  of,  311. 
Cambyses,  14. 

Campo  Formio,  treaty  of,  442. 
Canada,  415,  418,  419,  420,  495,  497. 
Cannae,  battle  of,  72. 
Canossa,  203. 
Canterbury,  238. 
Cape  Colony,  409,  450,  491,494,  497, 

504.  505.  507- 
Capetian  kings  of  France,  174,  188, 

196,  224,  225,  227,  236. 
Capua,  61,  66,  73. 
Carbonari,  454. 
Carlowitz,  peace  of,  390. 
Carnot,  441. 
Carolingian  house,  152,  160,  174,  181, 

193,  196. 
Carthage,  13,  54,  69-74,  134. 
Carthage,  New,  in  Spain,  54,  72. 
Cassius,  98. 
Cassius,  Spurius,  63. 
Castile  and  Aragon,  252. 
Catherine  of  Aragon,  293. 
Catherine  II.  the  Great,  of  Russia, 

399-404,  478. 
Catholic  League,  the.  345. 
Cato,  81. 
Cavaliers,  360. 
Cavour,  Count,  465. 
Celts,  148,  150. 
Censors,  Roman,  64. 
Ceylon,  491. 
Chaeronea,  battle  of,  44. 
Chaldean  civilization,  11. 
Chalons-sur-Marne,  134. 
Chambord,  comte  de,  456. 
Charlemagne,  103,  164-171,  174;  the 

empire  of,  168,  176. 
Charles  Albert,  king  of  Sardinia,  460. 
Charles   V.,    emperor   of  Germany, 

259,  298-300,  329-333  ;  VI.,  394. 
Charles  the  Bold,  233,  293. 
Charles  the  Fat,  179,  193-195. 
Charles  the  Simple,  195. 


Charles  I.,  king  of  England,  358,  360, 
532-535;  II.,  361,  366,  375  536. 

Charles  V.,  king  of  France,  231 ;  VI., 
231;  VII.,  232;  VIII.,  234,  295- 
297. 

Charles  XII.,  king  of  Sweden,  390. 

Charles  of  Bourbon,  Constable  of 
France,  308,  310. 

Charles  Martel,  153,  157,  162. 

Chaucer,  242,  304. 

Cheops,  8. 

China,  48,  502-504. 

Christianity  and  the  Church  at  the 
death  of  Christ,  100 ;  causes  of  early 
persecution  of,  121,  122;  rapid 
spread  of,  121-125;  under  Con- 
stantine,  102,  124;  Church  govern- 
ment, 122;  under  Julian,  126; 
under  Jovian,  129  ;  Arian  vs.  Cath- 
olic, 138;  reforms  of  Cluny,  200; 
the  crusades  and  their  results,  209- 
223;  Hussites,  249,  286;  religious 
revolution  attempted,  283-288  ;  ref- 
ormation of  Luther,  303-322;  in 
England,  333,  340,  357  ;  in  France, 
341 ;   Edict  of  Nantes,  344. 

Cicero,  95,  98. 

Cimbri,  87. 

Cinna,  92. 

Civilis,  113. 

Claudius,  no,  113. 

Cleisthenes,  reforms  of,  27. 

Cleopatra,  98. 

Clermont,  council  of,  210. 

Clive,  Robert,  Lord,  419. 

Cloaca,  Maxima,  58. 

Clotilda,  138. 

Clovis,  103,  104,  137-140. 

Cluny,  reforms  of,  200. 

Cnut,  174,  183. 

Cobden,  Richard,  500. 

Colbert,  368-370,  374,  415. 

Colet,  270. 

Coligny,  Admiral  de,  343. 

Colonial  wars,  415,  425. 

Colonies,  Greek,  58;  Roman,  68; 
Northmen,  181;  German,  250; 
modern,  407;  English,  411,  415- 
418,    494-497,    499-502;     French, 

369.  37o.  374-  415.  492. 
Columbus,  276, 


566 


Index 


Comitia,  centuriata,  59;  curiata,  59; 

tributa,  63-64,  65. 
Commodus,  emperor  of  Rome,  113. 
Commons,  House  of,  359,  360;  origin 

and  growth  of,  517,  522,  525.    See 

Parliament. 
Commonwealth,    English,    the,    360, 

361,  535- 

Conde,  prince  of,  353,  372. 

Congo  Free  State,  the,  504. 

Conrad,  of  Franconia,  193;  II  ,  em- 
peror of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire, 
195;  III.,  214. 

Constance,  peace  of,  206 ;  council  of, 
249. 

Constantine  the  Great,  102,  117,  120, 
122-125   126. 

Constantinople,  117,  157,  215,  253. 

Constituent  Assembly,  in  France,  436, 
438  ;  in  Germany,  461. 

Constitutions  of  England  and  the 
United  States,  510-541 :  Charter  of 
Henry  I.,  512;  beginning  of  the 
judiciary.  513;  the  Magna  Charta, 
514-516,  519;  the  Provisions  of 
Oxford,  516;  the  origin  of  repre- 
sentative institutions,  517;  Parlia- 
ment, 518-530;  House  of  Com- 
mons, 359,  360,  521-525 ;  taxation 
by,  519-525;  the  Yorkist  period, 
526;  the  Tudor  period,  527;  the 
Stuart  period,  530;  Petition  of 
Right,  532;  Grand  Remonstrance, 
534 ;  Bill  of  Rights,  537 ;  colonial 
questions,  537 ;  Reform  Bills,  540. 

Consuls,  of  Rome, 60;  of  Finn 

Convention,  the,  of  the  Commune, 

439-441- 
Copernicus,  258,  279.  545,  547 
Corinth,  34,  80. 
Corneille,  549. 
Corsica,  54,  72. 
Cortez,  407. 

Council,  the  Great,  517. 
Coup  d'etat,  the,  462. 
"Covenant,"  the,  533. 
Crassus,  the  triumvir,  95. 
Crecy,  battle  of,  231. 
Crespy,  treaty  of,  329. 
Crimea,  402. 
Or* mean  War,  327.  470-48 1. 


Croesus,  29. 

Cromwell,  Oliver,  360-361,  413. 

Crusades,  age  of,  74,  209,  212,  217; 

first,  210;  second  and  third,  214; 

later,  215. 
Cuba,  277. 

Cuneiform  inscriptions,  n. 
Cuvier,  551. 

Cynoscephaiae,  battle  of,  79. 
Cyrus  the  Younger,  39. 
Czar,  the  name,  106. 

Dagobert,  142,  152,  161. 

Damascus,  138,  214. 

Danes,  180;  in  England,  181. 

Dante,  266. 

Danton,  436. 

Danube,  states  of  the,  482,  484. 

Darius  I.,  king  of  Persia,  14,  15,  29, 

30.  45- 
Darwin,  551. 

David,  king  of  the  Hebrews,  11. 
Decemvirs,  Roman,  63. 
Decius,  116,  131. 
Declaration  of  Independence,  423, 

512- 
Deists,  French,  427 ,  English,  548. 
Delos,  18,  31. 
Delphi.  43. 
1  Denmark,  468. 
Descar!  s,  546 
Desideritis,  king  of  Ix>mbards,  165. 

I  dictator  at  Rome,  97. 

Diocletian,  Roman  emperor,  102,116, 

117,  123.  126. 

li,  Lord  Beaconsfield,  482. 
Divine  Right  of  Kings,  doctrine  of 

the,  357. 
Domitian,  Roma ^  emperor,  in,  113. 
Dorians,  the,  18,   r>;  migrations  of, 

21. 
Draco,  laws  of,  26 
Dresden,  peace  of,  395. 
Drusus,  87. 
Dunbar,  battle  of,  361. 
Dupleix,  417,  419. 

Dutch  Republic.     See  Netherlands. 
Dutch  wa"r  in  reign  of  Charles  1 1.,  413. 

Eadmund  Ironside,  183,  196. 


Index 


567 


Eadward    the    Confessor,    183,   196, 

197. 
Eastern  Empire,  103,  131,  144,  146. 
Eastern  Question,  the,  327,  402,  477, 

484. 
East  India  Company,  369,  409,  412. 
Ecbatana,  45. 
Ecgberht  of  Wessex,  182 
Eck,  Dr.,  306. 
Edessa,  214. 

Edict  of  Restitution,  347,  349. 
Edward    I.,   king   of  England,    229, 

240,  517;   II.,  241,  520,  524;  III., 

230,  242;  IV.,  244;  VI.,  318,  527. 
ligypt,  7-io.  45.  48,  58,  157.  158,  252, 

253,  266-272,  443,  478,  491,  505. 
Eisenach,  308. 
Elagabalus,  116. 
Elba,  447-449- 
Eleanor  of  Aquitaine,  226. 
Elector,  the  Great,  of  Brandenburg, 

351.  392.  393.  412 ;  of  Bavaria,  395  ; 

of  the    Palatinate,   345,   358,  384; 

of  Saxony,  329,  352-395. 
Elizabeth  of  York,  293. 
Elizabeth  of  England,  318,  325,  334, 

337-341,  527;   literature  of  the  age 

of,  545- 

Elizabeth  of  Russia,  397,  399. 

Emigres,  438,  456. 

Empire  and  papacy,  202-207. 

England,  Saxons  in,  148  ;  under  Al- 
fred, 182;  invasions  of,  174,  181, 
182;  Norman  conquest  of,  196; 
at  war  with  France,  231,  242,  383, 
415,  445,  449,  491 ;  Norman  kings 
of,  237,  511 ;  Angevin  kings  of,  226, 
237-242,  512,  513;  in  Wars  of  the 
Roses,  242-244,  292,  526 ;  the  Ref- 
ormation in,  285,317,  318,  333,334, 
338-341;  Tudor  rule  in,  318,  333, 
339.  527-530;  Stuart  kings  of,  355- 
359.  375.  384.  53°-53°;  Revolution 
in,  360,  536;  Commonwealth  of, 
360;  rise  of,  381,  409;  colonies  of, 
411-425,  488,  494,  497,  500-502; 
constitutional  history  of,  510-540; 
Magna  Charta,  514;  Parliament 
of,  517-526. 

Epaminondas,  40,  42. 

Epirus,  54,  68,  132. 


Erasmus,  258,  270. 

Estate,  the  Third,  432. 

Estates,   general,  229,  231,  233,  296, 

431,  436.     See  National  Assembly. 
Ethandun,  182. 
Etruscans,  58,  67. 
Eudes,  king  of  France,  195. 
Eugene  of  Savoy,  380. 
Europe,  reorganization  of,  449,  450  i 

since  18 15,  452-485. 

Fabius  Maximus,  the  Delayer,  72. 

Ferdinand  of  Aragon,  251,  291;  em- 
peror of  Germany,  330. 

Feudalism,  the  rise  of,  185 ;  the  sys- 
tem of,  186,  187,  511;  in  France, 
188  ;  the  serf  class  under,  189-191 ; 
classes  of,  189 ;  permanent  influ- 
ence of,  220,  511 ;  causes  of  decay, 
221 ;  results  of,  221. 

Flanders,  188,  409. 

Flavian  dynasty  in  Rome,  III, 

Florence,  the  city,  251,  295. 

Florida,  purchase  of,  493. 

Fontenay,  battle  of,  177. 

Fontenoy,  battle  of,  395. 

Fort  Duquesne,  418. 

Fouquet,  368. 

France,  under  the  feudal  system, 
188;  beginning  in,  195;  Capetian 
kings  of,  174,  188,  196,  224-227, 
236;  the  Valois  in,  230,  343;  in 
the  Thirty  Years'  War,  344-353 ; 
under  Louis  XIV.,  367-374,  377- 
381,  413-415 ;  intellectual  charac- 
ter of,  427-429 ;  financial  condition 
of,  43c,  436;  revolutions  in,  432- 
439,  456-458,  464;  the  Republic  in, 
438-445, 458,  at6  ;  the  Empire,  445, 
462 ;  Bourbon  restoration,  447, 449 ; 
the  war  with  Prussia,  472-475 ;  in 
the  Crimean  War,  479 ;  colonies 
of,  369,  415,  492. 

Franche-Comte,  365,  371-373. 

Francis  I.,  king  of  France,  308;  II., 
338,  342. 

Francis  of  Guise,  342,  473. 

Francis  Joseph,  emperor  of  Austria, 

459- 
Francis  of  Lorraine,  emperor  of  Aus- 
tria, 395. 


568 


Index 


Franco- Prussian  War,  327,  472-475. 

Franklin,  551. 

Franks,  the,  103,  137-143,  157,  162. 

Frederick  William,  the  Great  Elector 
(of  Brandenburg),  351,  386,  392, 
393.  412. 

Frederick  the  Wise  of  Saxony,  300. 

Frederick  II.  (the  Great),  393-395, 
398-401. 

Frederick  I.,  emperor  of  the  Ger- 
mans, 204,  214;   II.,  204,  207-215. 

Frederick  of  the  Palatinate,  345,  358, 

38* 

Frederick  William  I.,  king  of  Prus- 
sia. 393 :  I L,  4°3 1  IV.,  461. 

Frederickshall,  siege  ot,  391. 

French  and  Indian  War,  397. 

French  Revolution,  the,  327,  432-439. 

Fronde,  wars  of  the,  367. 

Galb.i,  emperor  of  Rome,  in. 

Galileo,  546,  547. 

Garibaldi,  467. 

Gaul,  95,  103,  106. 

Geneva,  319. 

German  nation,  beginnings  of,  103, 
109,  135,  192,  193;  the  Holy  Ro- 
man Empire  of  the,  194;  in  con- 
flict with  the  papacy,  199-207, 
247 ;  in  the  crusades,  214-216 ; 
the  Great  Interregnum,  247;  the 
Reformation  of  Luther,  303-315 ; 
the  religious  wars,  329-357 ;  the 
Thirty  Years'  War,  344-346,  351- 
355  ;  end  of  the  Empire,  354  ;  rise 
of  the  Hohenzollern  in,  391-394; 
the  Seven  Years'  War,  398,  470- 
472 ;  the  Zollverein,  465,  468 ;  the 
New  Confederation,  471 ;  the  New 
Empire,  475. 

George  I.,  king  of  England,  384; 
III.,  420-422. 

Ghibellines,  206. 

Gibraltar,  381. 

Girondists,  the,  439,  440. 

Gladstone,  500. 

Gold,  discovery  of,  498. 

Gordon,  General,  506. 

Goths,  131.  132. 

Gracchi,  reforms  of  the,  55,  82. 

Gracchus,  Caius,  83-85. 


!  Gracchus,  Tiberius,  83. 
1  Granada,  291,  292. 

Grand  Alliance,  the,  379. 

Granicus,  battle  of  the,  45. 

Great  Seal  of  England,  365. 

Greco-Persian  War,  29,  30. 

Greco-Turkish  War,  485. 

Greece,  influence  of  physical  charac- 
teristics on  the  people,  19,  20;  in 
the  Homeric  age,  21 ;  invasions 
of,  by  Persians,  29,  30 ;  contest  tor 
the  headship  of,  34-38 ;  conquest 
of,  by  Philip,  43,  44  ;  alter  the  death 
of  Alexander,  48;  commerce  of, 
48 ;  independence  of,  463. 

Greek  Empire.   See  Eastern  Empire. 

Greek  cities  of  Asia  Minor,  29. 

Greeks,  6;  divisions  of,  18,  20-26; 
legendary  history  of,  20;  typical 
constitutions  of,  27;  civilization  of, 
46;  intellectual  rank  <>f,  32,  49;  re- 
lation of  Romans  to,  56 ;  revival  of 
the  learning  of,  258,  261-263. 

Gregory.    See  under  Popes. 

Gregory  of  Tours,  138. 

Grimoald,  152,  161. 

Guelfs,  206. 

Guise,  the  family  of,  342. 

Gustavus  Adolphus,  347,  351. 

Gutenberg,  268. 

Hadrian,  emperor  of  Rome,  113-115. 
Hamilcar,  72. 
Hampden,  359,  360,  532. 
Hannibal,  54,  72,  74,  76,  79. 
Hanover,  206 ;  the  house  of,  384,  525, 

538. 
Hanseatic  League,  223. 
Hapsburg,  house  of.  248,  290,  292, 

328,  334.  349.  365.  382. 
Harold  I.,  king  of  England,  197. 
Hasdrubal,  54,  73,  74. 
Hastings,  battle  of,  197. 
Hawaii,  488. 
Hebrews,  the,  11-13. 
Hcgira,  156. 
Helena,  St.,  449. 
Hellas,  20. 
Hellenes,  20. 
Hellespont,  45,  90. 
Helots,  24. 


Index 


569 


Henry  I.,  emperor  of  Germany,  193; 

II..  195,  199;    III.,  195,  201,  202; 

IV.,  202;    V.,  203;   VI.,  202,  204, 

206. 
Henry   I.,    king    of    England,    237 ; 

Charter  of,  512,  515  ;  II.,  of  Anjou, 

226,  237,  521;  III.,  228,  240,  516; 

IV.,  523-525;    V.,  231,   242;   VI., 

232,  243;    VII.,    244,   526;    VIII., 
292,  298,  300,  308,  317,  357,  527,  530. 

Henry  II.,  king  of  Prance,  329,  330, 
342;    III.,  343;    IV.,  of  Navarre, 

343.  344- 
Henry  the  Lion,  206. 
Henry  the  Navigator,  275. 
Heptarchy,  the,  149. 
Heraclea,  battle  of,  68. 
Herculaneum,  ill. 
Hermann,  109. 
Hieroglyphics,  9. 

Hiero,  king  of  Syracuse,  70,  71,  73. 
Hipparchus,  27. 
Hippias,  27. 

Historic  races,  succession  of,  5. 
History,  field  of,  1 ;   earliest  records 

of,  5- 

Hohenstaufen,  the  house  of,  174,  204- 
206,  251. 

Hohenzollern,  the  house  of,  250, 326, 
392,  461,  473. 

Holbein,  282. 

Holland,    178,    409;     at    war    with 
France,  366,  371,  413.  457,  491. 

Holstein,  468. 

Holy  Alliance,  the,  454-456. 

Holy  League,  298. 

Holy  Roman  Empire,  the,  169; 
economic  conditions  of,  176;  its  j 
contest  with  the  papacy,  199-207 ; 
renewed  by  Otto  the  Great,  174, 
194  ;  effects  of  the  renewal  of,  194 ; 
diminished  by  the  treaty  of  West- 
phalia, 326 ;  end  of,  354. 

Honorius,  emperor  of  Rome,  132. 

Horace,  107. 

Hubertsburg,  peace  of,  399. 

Hudson  Bay  territory,  382. 

Huguenots,  342-344,  348,  374. 

Hundred  Days,  the,  449. 

Hundred  Years'  War,  the,  175,  230- 

233,  242,  290. 


Hungarians,  the,  174,  180,  193,  463. 

Hungary,  459,  461,  472. 

Huns,  the,  102,  129,  131-135,  144. 

Huss,  John,  249,  258,  286. 

Hussites,  249,  286. 

Hyksos,  8. 

Illyricum,  132. 

Imperial  Federation  League,  501. 
Independents,  English,  360,  411. 
India,  46,  273,  416,  417,  419,  443,  491, 

5°2-  503- 

Indulgences,  303. 

Indus,  the,  46. 

Interregnum,  the  Great,  247. 

Ionians,  the,  18,  20,  29. 

Ireland,  237,  361,  377. 

Isabella  of  Bourbon,  473. 

Isabella  of  Castile,  251,  252. 

Ismail  Pasha,  505. 

Issus,  battle  of,  45. 

Italian  city-states,  205,  206,  251,  294. 

Italian  Renaissance,  265. 

Italy,  geography  and  peoples  of,  57, 
58 ;  contrasted  with  Greece,  57 ; 
reorganization  of,  88,  449,  463; 
cities  of,  205,  206,  251,  294 ;  Re- 
naissance in,  265 ;  the  invasions 
of,  296-300,  310,  311;  revolutions 
in,  455,  459,  460;  growth  of  the 
spirit  of  nationality  in,  465  ;  united, 
466,  467 ;  in  the  Seven  Weeks' 
War,  470-471. 

Ivan  the  Great,  388. 

Jacobins,  436,  438,  439,  440,  442. 

James  I.,  king  of  England,  358;  II., 
376,  377.  380,  384.  536.  537.  538; 
IH.,379. 

James  II.,  king  of  Scotland,  384. 

Janissaries,  352. 

Japan,  504. 

Jaxai  tes,  46. 

Jena,  battle  of,  446. 

Jerome  of  Prague,  287. 

Jerusalem,  10-13 ;  taken  by  Titus, 
III;  by  the  Turks,  210,  213;  by 
the  crusaders,  214;  Latin  king- 
dom of,  214;  taken  by  Saladin, 
214. 

Jesuits,  the  order  of,  321. 


57o 


Index 


Jews,  insurrection  of,  112;  expulsion 

from  Spain  of  the,  292. 
Joan  of  Arc,  232. 
John,  king  of  England,  174,  226,  239  ; 

grant  of  Magna  Charta  by,  239,  240, 

5H-5I6. 
John,  king  of  France,  231. 
Josephine,  446. 
Joseph  of  Bavaria,  377. 
Jovian,  129. 
Jugurtha,  86. 

Julian  the  Apostate,  126,  129,  131. 
Jupiter  Ammon,  shrine  of,  45. 
Justinian,  103,  1.15,  144-146,  219. 
jutes,  the,  148,  149. 

(Caaba,  the,  155. 
Kepler,  546,  547. 
Khadijah,  155. 
Khartum,  506. 
Knox,  John,  338. 
Kdniggratz,  battle  of,  471. 
Koreishites,  155.  156. 
Kosciusko,  403. 
Kossuth,  439. 
Kufti  I.,  8. 

(asmon.    Sec  Sp*»fa, 

Lafayette,  434,  436, 456. 

Lancaster,   house  of,  242,  244,   286, 

523-525- 

Langton,  Stephen,  514. 

Laplace,  551. 

La  Rochelle,  349. 

Latin  cities,  league  of  58,  59,  61 ;  re- 
volt of.  66. 

Latin  colonies,  68. 

Latin  Empire,  215. 

Laud,  William,  359. 

Law,  John,  430. 

Law,  Roman,  114-116,  206,  217. 

Laybach,  Congress  of,  455. 

Leczinski,  Stanislaus,  390. 

Legislative  Assembly,  440. 

I  «gnano,  battle  of,  206. 

Leipzig,  battle  of,  447. 

Leon,  252. 

Ixonardo  da  Vinci,  281. 

Leonidas,  30. 

Leopold  1 1.,  king  of  Austria.  403. 

Leopold,  Prince,  473. 


Lepidus,  the  triumvir,  98. 

Lewis  L,  Carolingian  king,  177,  179. 

Lex  Hortensia,  65. 

Licinian  Rogations,  64. 

Linnaeus,  551. 

Lisbon,  275,  277. 

Literature,  Egyptian,  9;  Chaldean, 
11 ;  Greek,  20,  32;  of  the  Renais- 
sance, 279,  281,  282. 

Livia,  no. 

Livy,  107. 

IvOcke,  John,  549. 

Loire,  the,  157,  227. 

Lollards,  the,  286. 

Lombard  League,  the,  205. 

Lombards,  the,  103,  104,  146,  161, 
162,  165. 

Long  Walls  of  Athens,  38,  40. 

Lorraine,  210,  475. 

Lothair,  emperor,  177,  178. 

Louisburg,  418. 

Louisiana  purchase,  the 

Ix>uis,  prince  of  Conde,  353,  372. 

Louis  V..  king  of  France,  196;  VI., 
224,  225;  VI L,  214.  VII I.,  228; 
IX.,  215,  228;  XL,  233,  290,291; 
XI  I..  297-300;  XI 1 1.,  344. 347. 349, 

XI  V.,  366-383. 413;  XV..  383,  413; 
XVI.,  431,  436,  439,  440;  XVII., 
448;  XVIII..  447.  449.  456. 

Louis  Napoleon,  459,461-476. 

Ivouis  Philippe,  436,  458. 

\jo\s  Countries.     See  Netherlands. 
.1.  Ignatius,  322. 

Lucas,  no. 

Lndovico  the  Moor,  295-297. 

Luther,  Martin,  258,  271.  303-315, 
posts  his  theses,  304 ;  burns  the 
papal  bull,  307;  edict  against.  r.f 
the  Diet  of  Worms.  307,  308 ;  op- 
posed to  fanaticism,  312,  and  to 
civil  war,  314. 

Liitzen,  battle  of,  351. 

Luxemburg,  the  family  cf,  248. 

Lycurg': 

Macedonia,  tributary  to  Darius,  14 ; 
rise  to  power  of,  18,  42,  54  ;  at  war 
with  Rome,  73,  79;  after  the  death 
of  Alexander.  48;  end  of.  8a 

Machiavelli,  282,  294. 


Index 


571 


Machinery,  the  age  of,  552;  its  effect 

on  manufacturing  and  labor,  553. 
Madrid,  treaty  of,  310. 
Magdeburg,  siege  of,  329,  351. 
Magellan,  277. 
Magna    Charta,    the,    240,   514-516, 

519.  532. 
Mahinoud  II.,  sultan  of  Turkey,  478. 
Maintenon,  Mine.,  374. 
Mamertines,  the,  70. 
Marathon,  15,  18,  29. 
Mardonius,  30. 
Maria   Louisa,  empress   of  France, 

446. 
Maria  Theresa  of  Austria,  394-399, 

401. 
Marie  Antoinette,  430. 
Marignano,  battle  of,  300. 
Marius,  Caius,  87,  89-92. 
Marlborough,  duke  of.  380. 
Mary  de'  Medici,  344. 
Mary  of  Burgundy,  293. 
Mary,  queen    of   England,   wife   of 

William  III.,  376,  536. 
Mary   Stuart,   queen   of  Scots,   334, 

338-340.  342,  355.  356. 
Mary  Tudor,  queen  of  England,  318, 

333- 
Massinissa,  86. 
Matilda,  237,  512,  513. 
Maurice  of  Saxony,  329. 
Maximilian  I.,  emperor  of  Germany, 

234.  293. 
Mazarin,  299,  349,  367,  370,  374,  377. 
Mazeppa,  391. 
Mazzini,  460. 
Mecca,  155,  156. 
Medes,  10,  11. 
Medici,  family  of,  251,  295,  296,  316; 

Catherine  de',  275,  342;    Lorenzo 

de',  280 ;   Mary  de',  344 
Medina,  156. 
Mehemet  AH,  478. 
Memphis,  7. 

Menes,  king  of  Egypt,  7. 
Mercia,  149,  181. 
Messana,  70,  71. 
Metternich,  454,  459,  489. 
Metz,  330;  fortress  of,  474. 
Mexico,  conquered  by  Cortez,  407. 
Michael  Ansjelo,  281. 


Milan,  131,   133,  205,    251,  295,  300, 

442. 
Miltiades,  30. 
Minorca,  381,  424. 
Mirabeau,  432-^36. 
Missi  dominici,  169,  176. 
Mithridates,  89,  90,  92. 
Mohammed,  155,  156. 
Mohammedanism,  doctrines  of,  155; 

spread  of,  156  ;  decline  of,  160. 
Moliere,  549. 
Money,  effects  of  an  increased  use 

of,  220. 
Monroe  Doctrine,  the,  455. 
Montaigne,  282. 
Montesquieu,  428,  548. 
Montfort,  Simon  de,  228,  516,  518. 
Moors  of  Granada,  292. 
More,  Sir  Thomas,  270,  271. 
Moscow,  burning  of,  447. 
"  Mountain,"  the,  439. 
Mozambique,  275. 
Miihlberg,  329. 
Mycale,  30. 

Nantes,  the  edict  of,  344,  349 ;  revo- 
cation of,  374. 

Naples,  295,  297,  381. 

Napoleon  III.,  462,  472. 

Naseby,  360. 

National  Assembly,  French,  432-436, 
439.  440. 

National  Guard,  434-436,  456. 

Navarre,  251,  291. 

Navigation  Act,  413. 

Nebuchadnezzar,  10. 

Necker,  431,  433,  434. 

Nelson,  443,  444,  491. 

Nero,  emperor  of  Rome,  110,  m,  121. 

Nerva,  emperor  of  Rome,  113. 

Netherlands,  286,  293  ;  under  Charles 
V.,  335;  revolt  of  the,  328,  336; 
Union  of  Utrecht,  337;  ceded  to 
Austria,  337  ;  to  France,  355. 

Netherlands,  the  New,  409. 

Neustria,  153. 

Newfoundland,  416. 

Newton,  Sir  Isaac,  546,  547. 

Nicaea,  124. 

Nicholas  I.,  czar  of  Russia,  461,  464, 
479.  480. 


572 


Index 


Nicias,  the  peace  of,  35. 

Nile,  the  valley  of,  5;  delta  of,  7;  the 

battle  of,  443,  491. 
Nimeguen,  treaty  of,  373. 
Nineteenth  century,  452. 
Norfolk,  149. 
Normandy,  181,  195,  511. 
Normans,  169,    196;   in  Italy,   204; 

conquest  of  England  by,  196;   in 

the  crusades,  210. 
Northmen,  174,  180,  181. 
Northumberland,  149. 
Norwegians,  180. 
Nottingham,  361. 
Nova  Scotia,  416. 
Numantia,  80. 
Numidia,  86. 
Nuremberg,  peace  of,  315. 

Octavius,  the  tribune,  83. 

Octavius,  the  triumvir,  98;  emperor 

of  Rome,  105,  109. 
Odovakar,  103,  135. 
Olympian  Zeus,  by  Phidias,  28. 
Olynthian  Confederacy,  the,  43. 
Olynthus,  43. 
Ommiads,  the,  158. 
Orange,   William    of,   376-380,  536, 

537- 

Oriental  nations,  5,  15. 

Orleans,  the  siege  of,  232. 

Osmanlis,  the,  252. 

Osman  Pasha,  481. 

Ostracism,  27. 

Ostrogoths,  103,  131,  140-144. 

Otho,  emperor  of  Rome,  in. 

Otto  I.,  the  Great,  emperor  of  Ger- 
many, 174, 193 ;  1 1 ..  194 ;  III.,  194 ; 
IV.,  206,  207,  240. 

Ottokar  II.,  king  of  Bohemia,  248. 

Ottoman  Empire,  the.  See  under 
Turks. 

Ovid,  107. 

Oxford  University,  270. 

Palatinate,  345,  354.  377. 

Palmyra,  fall  of,  116. 

Papacy,  the  "temporal  power"  of, 
103,  162;  its  growth,  104,  161;  in 
conflict  with  the  Empire,  168,  202- 
207,   247;    at   the    height    of    the 


power  of,  206,  207  ;  theory  of  papal 
supremacy,  199;  reforms  of  Cluny, 
200;  removal  of  the  papal  chair  to 
Avignon,  258,  283-285;  the  great 
schism,  284;  the  papal  states,  295 ; 
deprived  of  power  in  England,  317, 
in  Italy.  460. 

Papal  states,  the,  295. 

Paris,  peace  of  (1763),  397;  peace 
of  (1856),  481. 

Parliament.  English,  495;  the  first, 
517;  growth  of  power  of,  518-523, 
525-529;  rise  of  House  of  Com- 
mons in,  522,  539;  rights  of,  358, 
SlS>  5IO-522.  524".  attacks  on,  358, 
359.  523-  532-535'.  Charles  Land 
the,  358,  532-535 ;  the  Long,  359, 
533;  the  "Rump,"  359,  361;  the 
convention,  537 ;  union  of  Scotch 
with  the,  384. 

Paithians,  48,  112. 

Patricians,  in  early  Rome,  59. 

Pavia,  310. 

Peasants'  War,  301. 

Peiraeus,  30,  31,  38. 

Pelasgoi,  the,  20. 

Peloponnesian  War,  the,  18,  34. 

Pericles,  18,  32. 

Perioeci,  the,  24. 

Persepolis,  45. 

Perseus,  king  of  Macedon,  80. 

Persia,  conquest  of.  by  Alexander, 
45;  by  Saracens,  157;  modern, 
502-504. 

Persian  Empire,  established  by  Cyrus 
14;  history  of,  14-15;  government 
of,  15;  revived,  144. 

Persians,  religion  of,  15. 

Persian  wars,  with  Greece,  14,  18,  29, 
44,45;  with  Rome,  116. 

Peter  the  Great.  388-391;  III.,  398. 

Peter  the  Hermit,  210. 

Petition  of  Right,  358. 

Petrarch.  266,  267,  282. 

Pharsalia,  battle  of,  96. 

Phidias,  32. 

Philip  Augustus,  king  of  France,  175, 
214. 

Philip  II.,  king  of  France,  224,  226- 
228,  240;  IV.,  the  Fair,  229.  230, 
240,  283;  VI.,  of  Valois,  230. 


Index 


573 


Philip  II.,  king  of  Spain,  318,  325, 
33*-338.34<>;  IV.,  370;  V.,  ot  An- 
j°».  379.  38°- 

Philip  of  Hesse,  329,  330. 

Philip  of  Macedon,  42-44;  in  the 
third  century  B.C.,  73,  79. 

Philippi,  battle  of,  98. 

Phoeians,  the,  43. 

Phoenicians,  the,  13 ;  the  services  to 
civilization  of,  13. 

Physiocrats,  the,  in  France,  551. 

Picard,  547. 

Pippin  of  Landen,  152. 

Pippin  of  Heristal,  153. 

Pippin  the  Short,  104,  157,  162. 

Pisa,  council  of,  258,  285. 

Pisistratus,  27. 

Pitt,  William,  420. 

Pizarro,  407. 

Plassy,  victory  of,  419. 

Platsea,  30. 

Plebeians,  the  class  of,  59;  the  strug- 
gle for  their  rights,  61-65. 

Plevna,  surrender  of,  481. 

Poitiers,  157,  231. 

Poland,  392;  partitions  of,  400,  403; 
revolutions  in,  457. 

Pomerania,  392. 

Pompeii,  in. 

Pompey,  94-96. 

Pontus,  89. 

Popes.  See  Papacy.  Leo  L,  134; 
Gregory  I.,  161;  Stephen  II.,  162; 
Leo  IX.,  202;  Gregory  VII.,  174, 
202,  283;  Urban  II.,  210;  Adrian 
IV.,  239;  Innocent  III.,  207,  215, 
283  ;  Boniface  VIII.,  229,  230,  283  ; 
Gregory  XL,  284 ;  Urban  VI.,  284 ; 
Gregory  XII.,  287;  Alexander  V., 
285;  Martin  V.,  287;  Nicholas  V., 
281;  Alexander  VI.,  295,  321; 
Junius  II.,  297;  Leo  X.,  306; 
Clement  VII.,  311 ;   Pius  IX.,  460. 

Portugal,  273,  274,  353,  407. 

Pragmatic  Sanction,  288,  301,  394. 

Prague,  peace  of,  471. 

Pretender,  the  Old,  384. 

Pietorian  guard,  106,  no,  in. 

Printing,  invention  of,  268,  269. 

Proscriptions,  by  Sulla,  92;  under 
second  triumvirate,  q8. 


Protestants,  the  name,  259,  312. 
Protestant  Union,  the,  345. 
Provisions  of  Oxford,  516. 
Prussia,  duchy  of,  392;    rise  of  the 
kingdom  of,  391-394.  399.  467-472. 
Psammetichus  1.,  8. 
Ptolemies,  the,  48,  49. 
Pultowa,  battle  of,  391. 
Punic  wars,  the,  54,  70,  81. 
Punjaub,  the,  502. 
Puritans,  341,  357. 
Pym,  534. 

Pyramids,  battle  of  the,  443. 
Pyrenees,  133,  157 ;  peace  of  the,  ot 

1659.  355-  370. 
Pyrrhus,  king  of  Epirus,  54,  68. 

Quadruple  Alliance,  the,  383. 
Quebec,  326,  419. 
Quesnay,  551. 

Rabelais,  282. 

Races  of  men,  3. 

Racine,  549. 

Radagaisus,  133. 

Rameses  II.,  8. 

Ramillies,  380. 

Raphael,  281. 

Ravenna,  103,  148,  161. 

Reformation,  the,  under  Luther,  258, 

260,   303-315;    in    England,   317- 

319 ;     in    France,    320,    342 ;     the 

counter-,  320. 
Reform  Bill  of  1832,  540. 
Regulus,  71. 

Rehoboam,  kmg  of  the  Hebrews,  12. 
Reign  of  Terror,  327,  440. 
Religious    wars,    the    age    of,    328; 

the  Schmalkaldic   War,  329 ;    the 

Thirty  Years'  War,  344. 
Renaissance,    the,    258,     260,     273; 

south  of  the  Alps,  265,  269 ;  north 

of  the  Alps,  270;  end  of,  279,  544. 
Restitution,  edict  of,  347. 
Restoration  of  the  Stuarts,  366,  375, 

536. 
Revival  of  learning,  261-267 ;  in  Italy, 

265  ;  in  England,  270. 
Revolution,  American,  326,  421-424, 

S38.   539;    iIS   influence.    424;    in 

England,   360;    of  1688,   376;    in 


574 


Index 


France,  of  1789-1799,  435;  results 
of,  450,  457;  in  France,  of  1830, 
456,  464 ;  in  Germany,  464,  465 ; 
in  France,  of  1848,  438;  in  Hun- 
gary, of  1848,  461 ;  in  Italy,  of  1820, 
455;  of  1830,  457;  of  1848,  459, 
461 ;  in  Poland,  of  1830-1832,  457. 

Rheims,  232. 

Rhine,  102,  103,  133;  the  League  of 
the,  254. 

Rhodes,  48,  21 1. 

Richard  I.,  king  of  England,  226,  239, 
244;  as  a  crusader,  244;  II.,  242, 
520,523,  524;   III.,  244,526. 

Richelieu,  Cardinal,  326,  347-353. 

Rights,  Bill  of,  376. 

Robert  the  Strong,  195. 

Robespierre,  436. 

Rollo,  181,  195. 

Roman  colonial  system,  68. 

Roman  law,  114-116,  206,  219. 

Romanoff,  house  of,  388. 

Romans  6;  in  relation  to  Greeks,  53, 
56;  religion,  77,  121-125;  provin- 
cial government,  80-82. 

Rome,  as  a  city-state,  54,  57,  58; 
wars  of  conquest,  57,  60,  66-68,  80; 
early  constitution,  59;  changes  in 
the  constitution  of,  59,  61-65,  8°. 
96,  97,  102,  116-118;  period  of  the 
kings  of,  58;  taken  by  Gauls,  61, 
87;  Funic  wars,  69-74;  tne  Re- 
public, 80-96;  the  Social  wars, 
87-93;  monarchy  under  Ca?sar, 
96;  the  triumvirates,  95,  98,  the 
Empire,  105-132;  causes  of  the 
fall  of  the  Empire,  127;  attacks 
by  the  Goths,  131 ;  division  of  the 
Empire,  132;  end  of  the  Western 
Empire  of,  135;  the  Eastern  Em- 
pire of,  103,  131,  144-148  ;  the  capi- 
tal of  the  kingdom  of  Italy.  476. 

Romulus,  58. 

Romulus  Augustulus,  135. 

Roses,  Wars  of,  244,  292. 

Rosetta  Stone,  the,  9. 

Roumania,  481. 

Roussillon,  353. 

Rousseau,  428. 

Rubicon,  the,  96. 

Rudolph  of  Hapsburg,  248. 


Runnymede,  240. 

Ruric,  387. 

Russia,  introduction  of  Christianity 
into,  388  ;  Tartar  conquest  of,  388  ; 
under  Peter  the  Great,  388-390; 
under  Elizabeth,  398,  399;  under 
Catherine  the  Great,  399-404  ;  the 
partition  of  Poland,  400-404;  in- 
vaded by  Napoleon,  447;  expan- 
sion of,  in  Asia,  503 ;  Napoleon, 
447  ;  in  the  Holy  Alliance,  454  ;  at 
war  with  the  Turks  in  1770-1774, 
402;  in  1828,  464;  in  1877-1878. 
481-484;  in  the  Crimean  War, 
479-481 ;  emancipation  of  serls 
in,  481. 

Ryswick,  peace  of,  377. 

Sabines,  58. 

Sacred  wars,  the,  43. 

Sadowa,  battle  of,  471. 

St.  Augustine,  150,  269,  303. 

St.  Bartholomew,  343. 

St.  Germain,  peace  of,  342. 

St.  Paul,  in,  121. 

St.  Peter,  III,  121 

St.  Petersburg,  391. 

Salamis,  battle  of,  18,  30. 

Salic  law,  230. 

Sammtes,  58,  61,  66,  67. 

Samson,  the  Hebrew  prophet,  11. 

San  Stefano,  treaty  of,  481. 

San  Yuste,  331. 

Saracens,  157;  their  servije  to 
science,  etc.,  158,  159. 

Sardinia,  seized  by  Rome,  54,  72, 80; 
at  war  with  Prance,  .140-442,450; 
revolution  in,  455;  war  with  Aus- 
tria, 460;  in  the  Crimean  War, 
480. 

Sargon,  king  of  Assyria,  10. 

Sassanid  dynasty,  129. 

Saturninus,  87. 

Saul,  king  of  the  Hebrew 

Savonarola,  129,  295,  296. 

Savoy,  378 ;  house  of,  178,  460. 

Saxons,  the,  invade  Britain.  148  ;  o  .n- 
quered  by  Charlemagne,  165  ;  con- 
version of,  149,  166. 

Saxony.  354.  398.  399- 

Scandinavians.     See  Northmen. 


Index 


575 


Scandinavian  states,  259. 
Schleswig-Holstein,  468. 
Schmalkaldic  War,  329,  330. 
Schmalkald,  league  of,  315. 
Scholasticism,  263-265. 
Science  in   the   nineteenth  century, 

556,  557- 
Scipio,  ^Emilianus,  80 ;  Cneius,  74 ; 

Publius,  74;    P.   Cornelius    (Afri- 

canus),54,  74. 
Scotland  at  war  with  England,  240, 

359-361. 
Sebastopol,  siege  of,  480. 
Sedan,  battle  of,  474. 
Sejanus,  no. 
Seleucidae,  48. 
Semitic  race,  4. 
Seneca,  107,  no. 
Separatists,  the,  341. 
Sepoy  mutiny,  502. 
Serfs,  emancipation  of  Russian,  481. 
Servius  Tullius,  reforms  of,  59 ,  wall 

of,  59- 
Settlement,  Act  of,  384. 
Seven  Weeks'  War,  470,  471. 
Seven  Years'  War,  326,  398. 
Sforza,  family  of,  298. 
Shakespeare,  545. 
Shepherd  kings  of  Egypt,  8. 
Sicily,  made  a  Roman  province,  57, 

68,  70,  72;  the  two  kingdoms  of, 

251.  455.  460. 
Sigismund,  249,  250,  287,  392. 
Silesia,  395,  398. 
Smith,  Adam,  557. 
Sobieski,  373. 
Social  wars,  in  Greece,  43  ;  in  Rome, 

87-93- 

Society  of  Jesus,  321. 

Socrates,  39. 

Soudanese  revolt,  506,  507. 

Spain,  empire  of  Carthage  in,  54; 
conquest  of,  by  Scipio,  54,  57,  80 ; 
by  the  Vandals,  133 ;  the  Visigoths, 
134 ;  the  Saracens,  157 ;  by  Charle- 
magne, 252 ;  by  Ferdinand,  291 ; 
union  of  Castile  and  Aragon,  252, 
291 ;  discoveries  and  colonies  of, 
277,  423, 424 ;  conquest  of  Granada, 
291 ;  under  Ferdinand  and  Isa- 
bella, 291,  292;  expulsion  of  Jews 


and  Moors,  292;  at  war  with 
France,  295-298,  300,  308-311, 
329;  empire  of,  under  Charles 
V.  and  Philip  II.,  298-300,  310- 
312;  in  the  age  of  religious  wars, 
328-337.  338,  340,  346-355.  408; 
rapid  decline  of,  333,  365 ;  the 
Armada,  340;  in  the  Triple  Al- 
liance, 371 ;  the  War  of  the  Suc- 
cession, 326, 377,  379-381 ;  annexed 
by  France,  378,  383  ;  loss  of  Ameri- 
can colonies,  455,  493. 
Spanish  Succession,  the  War  of,  326, 

377-383. 

Sparta,  the  constitution  of,  22,  24,  27  ; 
a  rival  to  Athens,  31 ;  at  war  with 
Athens,  34-36 ;  supremacy  of,  38 ; 
decline  of,  40. 

Spartacus,  94. 

Spartans,  institutions  and  training  of, 
22,  24 ;  in  the  Peloponnesian  War, 
34-36  ;  attack  on  Persia  of,  39. 

Speyer,  Diet  of,  311. 

Spurs,  battle  of  the,  298.    , 

Star  Chamber,  359,  528,  533. 

Stephen,  king  of  England,  237,  512, 

513. 

Strafford,  earl  of,  533. 

Strasburg,  373  ;  the  Oath  of,  177. 

Strelitz,  the,  389. 

Stuarts,  house  of,  357,  383,  522,  530- 
538  ;  Charles  I.,  358,  360,  532-535  ; 
Charles  II.,  361,  366,  375,  536; 
Henry  (Lord  Darnley),338  ;  James 
U  357.  358,  53o.  53i;  James  II„ 
376,  379.  536;  James  III.,  379, 
384 ;  Mary,  334,  338-342,  355.  356. 

Suevi,  133,  134. 

Suez  Canal,  the,  505. 

Suffolk,  149. 

Sulieman  the  Magnificent,  314. 

Sulla,  89-93,  94. 

Supremacy,  Act  of,  318. 

Susa,  45. 

Sussex,  149. 

Sweden,  347 ;  in  the  Thirty  Years' 
War,  351-354;  power  of,  under 
Charles  XII.,  390;  decline  of, 
386-388 ;  at  war  with  Russia,  390 ; 
fall  of  Charles  XII.,  391. 

Switzerland,  178,  250, 


576 


Index 


Syagrius,  138. 

Syracuse,  18,  35,  54,  70;  siege  of,  75. 

Syria,  48,  54,  116,  157. 

Tacitus,  113. 

Tarentum,  67,  68. 

Tarquinius,  Priscus,  58. 

Tarquinius  Superbus,  59. 

Tarquins,  Rome  under  the,  58,  59. 

Tartar  Avars,  166,  193. 

Tell,  William,  251. 

Templar,  a  Knight,  215. 

Ten  thousand  Greeks,  the  expedition 

of,  39- 
Testry,  battle  of,  153. 
Tetzel,  304. 

Teutoberger  Forest,  battle  of,  109. 
Teutones,  the,  87. 
Teutonic  Knights,  order  of,  250. 
Teutonic  races,  6,  270. 
Thebans,  the,  40,  44. 
Thebes,  40,  42-44. 
Themistocles,  30,  31. 
Theodoric,  king  of  the  Visigoths,  140, 

141. 
Theodosius  the  Great,  102,  103,  132, 

144. 
Thermopylae,  battle  of,  18,  30. 
Theseus,  24. 
Thespians,  the,  30. 
Thessaly,  43. 
Thiers,  M.,  476. 
Third  Estate,  the,  218,  432,  477. 
Thirty  Tyrants,  38. 
Thirty  Years'  War,  the,  325, 329,  344- 

353- 
Thothmes  II.,  8. 
Thrace,  14,  43. 
Thuringians.  142. 
Tiber,  the,  58,  61. 
Tiberius,  emperor  of  Rome,  in. 
Ticinus,  72. 

Tiers  Etat.    See  Third  Estate. 
Tigris,  the,  45. 
Tilly,  346,  347.  351- 
Tilsit,  peace  of,  446. 
Tippoo  Sahib,  443,  491. 
Titian,  281. 

Titus,  emperor  of  Rome,  in,  112. 
Tory  party  in  English  politics,  422, 

496. 


Tours,  battle  of,  157. 

Tower  of  London,  241. 

Trajan,  emperor  of  Rome,  113. 

Trasimenus,  Lake,  battle  of,  72. 

Trebia,  battle  of,  72. 

Trent,  council  of,  321. 

Tribunes,  Roman,  63 ;  military,  64. 

Triple  Alliance,  the,  371,  413. 

Triumvirate,  the  First,  95;  the  Sec- 
ond, 98. 

Trojan  War,  the,  21.  * 

Troy,  siege  of,  21. 

Tudor,  house  of,  244,  292;  table  of 
kings,  363. 

Tunis,  215,  505. 

Turanian  peoples,  4. 

Turenne,  353,  372. 

Turgot,  431,  551. 

Turks,  the  Seljuk,  160,  210;  capture 
of  Edessa  by,  214 ;  Osmanlis,  252 ; 
capture  Constantinople,  253;  the 
siege  of  Vienna  by  the,  314;  con- 
quered by  Peter  the  Great,  390; 
at  war  with  Russia,  402;  the  East- 
ern Question,  453,  477,  484 ;  insur- 
rection of  the  Greeks,  464-478  ;  the 
Crimean  War,  479-482;  war  be- 
tween Greeks  and,  485. 

Tycho  Brahe,  547. 

Tyre,  n. 

Ulfilas,  139. 

Ulm.  battle  of,  446. 

Ulrich  von  Hutten,  282. 

Umbrians,  the,  67. 

United  States,  the,  422-424 ;  War  of 
1812,  493;  the  Monroe  Doctrine, 
455  •  expansion  of,  492-493,  498 ; 
Revolution,  influence  of,  424,  496- 
498 ;  Mexican  War,  498  ;  the  Con- 
stitution of.  535,  537-540. 

Universities,  in  the  Middle  Ages,  264. 

Utraquists,  288. 

Utrecht,  Union  of,  337 ;  treaty  of,  381. 

Valens,  emperor  of  Rome,  102,  132. 
Valerian,  emperor  of  Rome,  116. 
Valerian  law,  the,  62. 
Valmy,  439. 

Valois,  house  of,  France  under  the, 
230,  343- 


Index 


S77 


Vandals,  103,  134. 

Varus,  109. 

Vasco  da  Gama,  275. 

Vassy,  massacre  of,  342. 

Veii,  siege  of,  61. 

Venetia,  466-471. 

Venetians,  297. 

Venice,  in  the  fourth  crusade,  215 ; 
among  the  city-states  of  Italy,  251, 
295 ;  the  centre  of  the  boat  trade, 
269;  revolution  in,  459-461;  a 
part  of  the  kingdom  of  Italy,  471. 

Vercellae,  battle  of,  87. 

Verdun,  treaty  of,  117.  353. 

Verona,  Congress  ot,  455. 

Verres,  prosecution  of,  95. 

Versailles,  475. 

Vespasian,  emperor  of  Rome,  in, 
112. 

Vesuvius,  in. 

Victor  Emmanuel,  king  of  Sardinia, 
465-467. 

Vienna,  Congress  of,  327,  448,  463, 
reorganization  of  Europe  by  the, 
449,  450;    siege  of,  by  Sulieman, 

314- 
Visigoths,    102,    131,    140,  141,    145; 

establish    kingdom    in   Gaul    and 

Spain,  132-134. 
Volscians,  61. 
Voltaire,  428,  548. 

Wagram,  battle  of,  446. 
Wales,  conquest,  240. 


Wallenstein,  346,  352. 

Walter  the  Penniless,  210. 

Wartburg,  307,  312. 

Waterloo,  449,  454. 

Wat  Tyler,  286. 

Wellington,  duke  of,  449,  491. 

Wessex,  181. 

Western  Empire  (Roman),  103. 

Westphalia,  treaty  of,  326,  337,  353. 

Whig  party  in  English  politics,  422, 

496. 
William  I.,  the  Conqueror,  king  of 

England,  197,  511;    II.,  237,  511; 

III.,  of  Orange,  376,  379,  384,  527. 
William    I.,   emperor   of   Germany, 

467. 
William  I.  the  Silent,  336. 
Witt,  John  de,  366,  372. 
Wittenburg,  302. 
Wolfe,  419. 

Worcester,  battle  of,  361. 
Worms,  the  Concordat  of,  174,  203 ; 

the  Diet  of,  259,  307,  311. 
Wurtemburg,  455. 
Wycliffe,  249,  258,  285,  312. 

Xanthippus,  71. 

Xenophon,  39. 

Xerxes,  king  of  Persia,  30,  44. 

York,  house  of,  244. 

Zama,  battle  of,  74. 
Zurich,  treaty  of,  466. 


(L> 


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